Ancient Dread awakens: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, landing Oct 2025 across top digital platforms

One haunting mystic suspense story from literary architect / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an forgotten malevolence when guests become tokens in a dark ceremony. Airings begin on October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango on-demand.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – get ready for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing portrayal of struggle and archaic horror that will reimagine genre cinema this October. Produced by rising thriller expert Andrew Chiaramonte, this nerve-racking and moody cinema piece follows five unacquainted souls who arise isolated in a secluded dwelling under the malignant control of Kyra, a young woman haunted by a time-worn scriptural evil. Be prepared to be enthralled by a cinematic spectacle that fuses gut-punch terror with arcane tradition, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a iconic trope in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that belief is flipped when the presences no longer appear outside the characters, but rather from their psyche. This depicts the most primal corner of every character. The result is a intense identity crisis where the tension becomes a relentless push-pull between right and wrong.


In a desolate outland, five characters find themselves isolated under the malicious grip and control of a uncanny female figure. As the victims becomes incapable to break her control, severed and attacked by entities impossible to understand, they are made to confront their soulful dreads while the time relentlessly draws closer toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety deepens and alliances break, pushing each individual to doubt their true nature and the idea of freedom of choice itself. The cost rise with every beat, delivering a chilling narrative that weaves together ghostly evil with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my goal was to evoke deep fear, an entity rooted in antiquity, influencing soul-level flaws, and dealing with a will that strips down our being when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Living Kyra meant evoking something darker than pain. She is blind until the spirit seizes her, and that turn is bone-chilling because it is so internal.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be offered for streaming beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—giving fans no matter where they are can experience this unholy film.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just rolled out a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, up to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its original promo, which has collected over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, bringing the film to global fright lovers.


Avoid skipping this mind-warping ride through nightmares. Brace yourself for *Young & Cursed* this October the 2nd to dive into these haunting secrets about the psyche.


For sneak peeks, production news, and news from inside the story, follow @YACMovie across fan hubs and visit the official website.





Horror’s watershed moment: the 2025 season domestic schedule fuses legend-infused possession, Indie Shockers, set against Franchise Rumbles

Running from survival horror inspired by old testament echoes and stretching into brand-name continuations set beside pointed art-house angles, 2025 is tracking to be the most complex plus precision-timed year in the past ten years.

It is crowded, and also meticulously arranged. Major studios plant stakes across the year with known properties, as SVOD players saturate the fall with debut heat set against mythic dread. In parallel, the art-house flank is propelled by the afterglow of 2024’s record festival wave. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. That late Q3 to mid Q4 lane is the crucible, and now, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Fans are ravenous, studios are methodical, which means 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: High-craft horror returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 accelerates.

the Universal banner begins the calendar with a big gambit: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, situated not in a foggy nineteenth century European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Slated for 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 port tuned to austere horror. From director Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it is blood soaked Americana horror with a satirical streak. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial heat flags it as potent.

As summer winds down, Warner Bros. launches the swan song from its anchor horror saga: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the chapter points to emotional capstone while addressing a headline case. While the template is known, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson is back, and the tone that worked before is intact: period tinged dread, trauma as narrative engine, paired with unsettling supernatural order. This time, the stakes are raised, by expanding the “grabber” backstory and grief across bloodlines.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The follow up digs further into canon, grows the animatronic horror lineup, bridging teens and legacy players. It hits in December, buttoning the final window.

Platform Plays: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are trying sharper edges, and buzz accrues.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Helmed by Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a two hander body horror spiral led by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It moves between affection and rot, a triptych into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is destined for a fall landing.

In the mix sits Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable toplined by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Initial test audience notes point to a buzzy streaming debut.

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

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written 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. As dusk gives way to night, Kyra’s grip intensifies, a violating force plundering fears, vulnerabilities, and regrets.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Swerving the standard exorcism angle of Catholic rite and Latin word, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. 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 film is positioned on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home as Halloween balance against sequel stacks and creature returns. It looks like sharp programming. No overstuffed canon. No canon weight. Only psychological menace, compressed and taut, tuned to binge and gasp cycles online. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate opens with tropical body horror, sparking Cronenberg plus Herzog comps. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

At midnight, entries like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You buzz for how they play, not only their names. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance likely lifts another batch of grief laced elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festival playbooks now prize branding as much as discovery. A badge from Fantastic Fest or TIFF is now the first phase of marketing, not the last.

Legacy Lines: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen comes in July with franchise revival, new lead, retro styling. Unlike prior entries, this one leans into camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 drops late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The initial entry’s meme life and streaming legs push Universal to scale up.

The Long Walk, from an early and searing Stephen King work, is inbound, from Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With clear targeting, it could become The Hunger Games for horror grown ups.

Additionally, reboots and sequels, among them Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, populate the months, with timing held for strategy or acquisitions.

Key Trends

Mythic Horror Is Mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror is not just scaring us, it is reminding us that evil is older than we are.

Body horror reemerges
With Together, Weapons, and Keeper, the genre goes back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Services bankroll legitimate writing, legitimate directors, and proper media. Debuts like Weapons and Sinners carry event framing, not content bins.

Festival glow translates to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Theatrical is reserved for titles believed to overperform or sow sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

What’s Next: Fall stack and winter swing card

Those four, Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons, crowd September and October to saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The trick lies in diverse menus finding segmented crowds, not single title bets. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The new chiller cycle: installments, filmmaker-first projects, and also A Crowded Calendar aimed at nightmares

Dek: The current scare calendar lines up right away with a January bottleneck, and then extends through summer, and deep into the festive period, weaving series momentum, new voices, and data-minded counterplay. The major players are betting on smart costs, theatrical exclusivity first, and short-form initiatives that shape these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror filmmaking has established itself as the dependable lever in release plans, a segment that can expand when it clicks and still insulate the downside when it does not. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for top brass that lean-budget horror vehicles can shape pop culture, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and sleeper breakouts. The upswing flowed into the 2025 frame, where resurrections and filmmaker-prestige bets signaled there is appetite for diverse approaches, from legacy continuations to one-and-done originals that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a calendar that looks unusually coordinated across companies, with mapped-out bands, a combination of household franchises and first-time concepts, and a renewed focus on box-office windows that enhance post-theatrical value on premium rental and home platforms.

Insiders argue the space now behaves like a flex slot on the grid. The genre can bow on open real estate, generate a grabby hook for previews and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with moviegoers that arrive on advance nights and stay strong through the subsequent weekend if the release fires. After a work stoppage lag, the 2026 rhythm signals assurance in that logic. The slate begins with a weighty January band, then primes spring and early summer for balance, while reserving space for a autumn push that stretches into holiday-adjacent weekends and into the next week. The program also spotlights the expanded integration of arthouse labels and streamers that can platform a title, generate chatter, and go nationwide at the proper time.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and classic IP. The studios are not just releasing another chapter. They are aiming to frame lore continuity with a specialness, whether that is a title treatment that indicates a re-angled tone or a star attachment that links a upcoming film to a classic era. At the alongside this, the visionaries behind the headline-grabbing originals are embracing physical effects work, real effects and location-forward worlds. That convergence produces the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and newness, which is why the genre exports well.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount defines the early cadence with two prominent projects that run the tonal gamut. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director slot and Neve Campbell back at the center, framing it as both a handoff and a back-to-basics character piece. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the authorial approach indicates a memory-charged campaign without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. Anticipate a campaign driven by heritage visuals, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

Paramount also relaunches a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will lean on. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will go after mass reach through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format making room for quick switches to whatever leads the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated releases. SOULM8TE launches January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, loss-driven, and concept-forward: a grieving man onboards an intelligent companion that escalates into a lethal partner. The date nudges it to the front of a busy month, with Universal’s team likely to revisit off-kilter promo beats and short-form creative that hybridizes romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under placeholder labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a branding reveal to become an marketing beat closer to the initial promo. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are presented as signature events, with a mystery-first teaser and a second trailer wave that set the tone without spoiling the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor allows Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on 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 at the center. The franchise has long shown that a flesh-and-blood, physical-effects centered method can feel premium on a middle budget. Frame it as a hard-R summer horror hit that maximizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most world markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio mounts two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film premieres August 21, 2026, continuing a proven supernatural brand front and center while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has performed historically.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is selling as a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a vital part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a well-defined brief to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around mythos, and creature effects, elements that can increase premium booking interest and convention buzz.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows Eggers’ run of period horror centered on textural authenticity and language, this time circling werewolf lore. Focus’s team has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a bold stance in the auteur as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is warm.

Streaming strategies and platform plays

Platform tactics for 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s releases land on copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a tiered path that enhances both premiere heat and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video combines licensed titles with worldwide entries and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in deep cuts, using seasonal hubs, fright rows, and curated strips to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about first-party entries and festival additions, slotting horror entries near their drops and coalescing around go-lives with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of precision releases and speedy platforming that monetizes buzz via trials. That will be critical for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan pipelines in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to weigh horror on a per-project basis. The platform has shown appetite to secure select projects with acclaimed directors or star-led packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Festival-to-platform breakouts

Cineverse is crafting a 2026 slate 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 appeal is no-nonsense: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, recalibrated for modern sound and cinematography. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an upbeat indicator for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors looking for R-rated counterplay in the fall weeks.

Focus will favor the auteur track with Werwulf, managing the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then leveraging the holiday frame to increase reach. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can scale if reception allows. Keep an eye on an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that premieres at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work together, using limited runs to ignite evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate favors the brand side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all tap franchise value. The potential drawback, as ever, is staleness. The pragmatic answer is to frame each entry as a fresh tone. Paramount is centering character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is teasing a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-tinted vision from a rising filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a survival-thriller premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a clean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf brings period specificity and an rigorous tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the bundle is assuring enough to accelerate early sales and first-night audiences.

The last three-year set illuminate the logic. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that honored streaming windows did not preclude a day-date move from thriving when the brand was powerful. In 2024, auteur craft horror outperformed in premium auditoriums. In 2025, a resuscitation of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel revitalized when they alter lens and increase ambition. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which unfolds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The two-film strategy, with chapters lensed sequentially, lets marketing to bridge entries through personae and themes and to hold creative in the market without extended gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind this year’s genre hint at a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is moving toward its April 17, 2026 date. Marketing will likely that centers texture and dread rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget rigor.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval setting and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for sonic immersion and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead press and craft features before rolling out a first look that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and produces shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta inflection that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will win or lose on creature craft and set design, which play well in con floor moments and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound-mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and blank-sound beats that shine in top rooms.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is busy. 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 quiet contrast amid headline IP. The month ends with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is formidable, but the tonal variety makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Q1 into Q2 prime the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once belonged to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads 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 spoofy and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 delivers severe intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sensible. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest delights older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited teasers that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday corridor prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a line in sand that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, selective rollout, then capitalizing on 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 scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and holiday card usage.

One-sentence dossiers

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production carries on. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative reorients around the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner escalates into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

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 horror tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Double-shot with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: atmospheric 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 demanding boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the pecking order turns and fear crawls. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: celebrity-led survival horror from a legend.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles TBA in official materials. Logline: A modern reconception that returns the monster to fear, founded on Cronin’s hands-on craft and creeping dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster reset with creative stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting premise that pipes the unease through a child’s unsteady personal vantage. Rating: to be announced. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-crafted and headline-actor led eerie suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that lampoons hot-button genre motifs and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBA. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: mainstream summer comedy-horror.

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 spreads, with an transnational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: filming in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further opens again, with a unlucky family lashed to older hauntings. Rating: not yet rated. Production: slated for summer production leading to late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A restart designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: Kept under wraps by design. Rating: TBD. Production: ongoing. Positioning: filmmaker showcase with teaser-first cadence.

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-precise speech and primal menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a traditional theatrical release planned before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why the moment is 2026

Three pragmatic forces frame this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-sequenced in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can occupy those holes swiftly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale VFX set pieces, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more structured 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 premieres. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work social-ready stingers from test screenings, managed scare clips aligned to Thursday preview shows, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it wins.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The first stretch of 2026 sees fewer family and superhero logjams, creating valuable space for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or serve as the mature-skew alternative. January is the prime example. Four distinct flavors of horror will share space across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Budget discipline, rating paths, sleeper math

Budgets remain in the efficient band. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints 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 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 capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner 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.

The moviegoer’s year in horror

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets blood-slick, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors welcome the spacing. Horror delivers regular Thursday spikes, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing tactility, sound field, and picture that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts shift. But the spine of 2026 horror is firm. There is franchise muscle where it helps, distinct 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 late-arriving specialty entry join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, keep the secrets, and let the shocks sell the seats.