Primeval Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror thriller, arriving Oct 2025 across global platforms

This hair-raising otherworldly suspense film from literary architect / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, evoking an timeless fear when strangers become instruments in a hellish conflict. Premiering October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, the YouTube platform, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango’s digital service.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8th, 2025) – steel yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a gut-wrenching story of continuance and primeval wickedness that will reshape the fear genre this cool-weather season. Crafted by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this tense and claustrophobic thriller follows five young adults who arise confined in a off-grid hideaway under the malignant influence of Kyra, a young woman occupied by a antiquated sacred-era entity. Prepare to be drawn in by a cinematic outing that harmonizes visceral dread with mythic lore, dropping on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a recurring motif in film. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is subverted when the spirits no longer manifest from a different plane, but rather through their own souls. This depicts the darkest part of the group. The result is a emotionally raw internal warfare where the emotions becomes a intense face-off between righteousness and malevolence.


In a remote backcountry, five adults find themselves isolated under the possessive influence and spiritual invasion of a haunted entity. As the companions becomes submissive to oppose her curse, exiled and stalked by entities inconceivable, they are made to wrestle with their inner demons while the seconds coldly counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, suspicion deepens and ties erode, urging each soul to rethink their true nature and the notion of decision-making itself. The intensity amplify with every minute, delivering a terror ride that harmonizes occult fear with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my intention was to tap into core terror, an curse before modern man, filtering through emotional vulnerability, and dealing with a power that dismantles free will when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Taking on the role of Kyra was centered on something beneath mortal despair. She is unaware until the evil takes hold, and that shift is terrifying because it is so emotional.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be available for audience access beginning on October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—providing viewers worldwide can be part of this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a next step to its first trailer, which has earned over notable views.


In addition to its initial rollout, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has informed that *Young & Cursed* will also be streamed globally, offering the tale to a global viewership.


Experience this bone-rattling voyage through terror. Join *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to witness these dark realities about our species.


For film updates, production insights, and news from the cast and crew, follow @YACFilm across media channels and visit our horror hub.





Today’s horror inflection point: the 2025 season stateside slate weaves Mythic Possession, art-house nightmares, paired with legacy-brand quakes

Running from endurance-driven terror inspired by old testament echoes and stretching into canon extensions together with pointed art-house angles, 2025 is coalescing into the most dimensioned plus intentionally scheduled year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. top-tier distributors bookend the months with familiar IP, while streaming platforms crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs and ancient terrors. In the indie lane, the artisan tier is fueled by the kinetic energy from a record 2024 festival run. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. The early fall corridor has become the proving ground, though in this cycle, teams are capturing January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Moves: Prestige fear returns

The top end is active. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 amplifies the bet.

Universal Pictures leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a reconceived Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Shepherded by Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. targeting mid January, it helps remake the winter trough with prestige offerings, not discard thrillers.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Led by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, Warner’s schedule rolls out the capstone within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Ed and Lorraine Warren return with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the finale seeks an emotional close via a signature case. Although the framework is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It lands in early September, carving air ahead of October’s stack.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the memorable motifs return: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, and a cold supernatural calculus. The bar is raised this go, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Closing the prime list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The new chapter enriches the lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It bows in December, cornering year end horror.

Streaming Offerings: Low budgets, big teeth

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are pushing into risk, and dividends follow.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case linked horror tapestry braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. From Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Hitting theaters late summer with fall digital, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, an intimate body horror unraveling with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the story examines love plus envy plus self disgust as flesh ruin. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it is a near certain autumn drop.

Then there is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

The Possession Runs Deep: Young & Cursed

Rolling out October 2 across streaming, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. 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. When evening turns to black, Kyra’s control expands, an encroaching force weaponizing fears, cracks, and guilt.

The chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this one bores into something older, something darker. Lilith does not answer ceremony, she climbs through trauma, hush, and human fracture. Possession that blooms from within, not without, inverts the trope and places Young & Cursed within a growing horror trend, intimate character studies wrapped in genre.

The platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, angle the film as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel load and monster re ups. It looks like sharp programming. No swollen lore. No canon weight. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Among spectacle, Young & Cursed might win by restraint, then release.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. They feel like launchpads now, not just showcases.

The Fantastic Fest slate for horror is strong this year. Primate, an opening night tropical body-horror, invites Cronenberg meets Herzog talk. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. That title, with A24 backing, satirizes toxic fandom during a convention lockdown and is set to pop.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Legacy Lines: Next Chapters, New Starts, New Shapes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 returns in late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, from Francis Lawrence, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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.

What to Watch

Mythic horror goes mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Not nostalgia, a reclaim of pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body Horror Makes a Comeback
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Churn filler is losing ground on platforms. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

The big screen is a trust exercise
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Projection: Fall pileup, winter curveball

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will have to fight for oxygen. Watch for one or more of these to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The 2025 performance is about reach across segments, not one hero title. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The coming 2026 spook slate: continuations, non-franchise titles, alongside A stacked Calendar Built For screams

Dek: The brand-new horror cycle builds right away with a January pile-up, subsequently spreads through June and July, and pushing into the holiday frame, braiding brand heft, fresh ideas, and strategic counterweight. Studios and platforms are embracing mid-range economics, theatrical-first rollouts, and shareable marketing that position horror entries into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the sturdy option in distribution calendars, a category that can surge when it catches and still hedge the drawdown when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year re-taught decision-makers that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can lead audience talk, 2024 kept energy high with buzzy auteur projects and slow-burn breakouts. The trend rolled into the 2025 frame, where reawakened brands and arthouse crossovers proved there is an opening for several lanes, from franchise continuations to filmmaker-driven originals that travel well. The sum for the 2026 slate is a slate that presents tight coordination across distributors, with defined corridors, a balance of legacy names and novel angles, and a recommitted emphasis on exclusive windows that feed downstream value on PVOD and platforms.

Studio leaders note the space now works like a flex slot on the calendar. Horror can kick off on virtually any date, furnish a clear pitch for trailers and short-form placements, and exceed norms with crowds that lean in on preview nights and stay strong through the follow-up frame if the movie satisfies. Exiting a work stoppage lag, the 2026 layout underscores trust in that model. The slate kicks off with a front-loaded January window, then uses spring and early summer for alternate plays, while reserving space for a late-year stretch that extends to late October and past the holiday. The schedule also features the greater integration of specialized imprints and streamers that can platform a title, build word of mouth, and widen at the right moment.

A notable top-line trend is legacy care across interlocking continuities and classic IP. The companies are not just turning out another entry. They are setting up ongoing narrative with a premium feel, whether that is a brandmark that announces a tonal shift or a lead change that links a upcoming film to a foundational era. At the concurrently, the creative teams behind the top original plays are celebrating material texture, practical effects and place-driven backdrops. That interplay yields the 2026 slate a healthy mix of home base and unexpected turns, which is the formula for international play.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount opens strong with two marquee projects that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the heart, steering it as both a succession moment and a return-to-roots character-driven entry. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach telegraphs a nostalgia-forward framework without repeating the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Expect a marketing push driven by classic imagery, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan arriving in late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also reboots a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through social-friendly gags, with the horror spoof format fitting quick reframes to whatever drives the social talk that spring.

Universal has three differentiated projects. SOULM8TE rolls out January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is simple, tragic, and high-concept: a grieving man installs an intelligent companion that mutates into a harmful mate. The date locates it at the front of a heavy month, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo strange in-person beats and brief clips that fuses companionship and chill.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely believed to be the feature developed under temporary titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica navigate here Chastain top-lining. The official release calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a final title to become an earned moment closer to the debut look. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Completing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film plants on October 23, 2026, a slot he has excelled in before. Peele’s work are positioned as director events, with a minimalist tease and a second wave of trailers that prime atmosphere without details the concept. The Halloween runway opens a lane to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 helms, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has established that a tactile, prosthetic-heavy mix can feel elevated on a lean spend. Position this as a red-band summer horror hit that centers global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is robust. The studio rolls out two brand-forward plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a consistent supernatural brand on the board while the spin-off branch builds quietly. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-emerges in what the studio is calling a new take for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a strategic part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both devotees and new audiences. The fall slot affords Sony time to build campaign creative around environmental design, and creature builds, elements that can stoke deluxe auditorium demand and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, anchors a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by careful craft and historical speech, this time exploring werewolf lore. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a strong signal in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is warm.

Platform lanes and windowing

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. The studio’s horror films move to copyright after a cinema and premium rental phase, a tiered path that enhances both premiere heat and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video continues to mix library titles with global originals and select theatrical runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu work their edges in back-catalog play, using timely promos, Halloween hubs, and collection rows to sustain interest on the horror cume. Netflix retains agility about in-house releases and festival wins, scheduling horror entries on shorter runways and positioning as event drops go-lives with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, leverages a laddered of selective theatrical runs and accelerated platforming that drives paid trials from buzz. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ assesses case by case horror on a curated basis. The platform has shown a willingness to acquire select projects with award winners or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for sustained usage when the genre conversation swells.

Specialty and indie breakouts

Cineverse is curating a 2026 lane with two IP 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 somber, 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 fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has hinted a cinema-first plan for the title, an optimistic indicator for fans of the uncompromising series and for exhibitors wanting edgy counter in the fall weeks.

Focus will cultivate the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through select festivals if the cut is ready, then leveraging the December frame to open out. That positioning has helped for auteur horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Expect an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that runs at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using limited runs to stir evangelism that fuels their subscriber growth.

Legacy titles versus originals

By share, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. The concern, as ever, is staleness. The go-to fix is to market each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is pushing a French-flavored turn from a emerging director. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Non-franchise titles and director-first projects add oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s signature playful menace. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an stark tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the assembly is familiar enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night turnout.

Past-three-year patterns clarify the method. In 2023, a exclusive window model that honored streaming windows did not deter a hybrid test from hitting when the brand was potent. In 2024, director-craft horror outperformed in premium screens. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they rotate perspective and stretch the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The paired-chapter approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, builds a path for marketing to link the films through cast and motif and to keep materials circulating without long gaps.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries hint at a continued shift toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-effects sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is tracking toward its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that elevates unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the darkest project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in deep-dive features and craft spotlights before rolling out a first look that keeps plot minimal, a move that has resonated for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that exports well in red-band trailers and creates shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta refresh that returns to the core star. Resident Evil will rise or fall on creature execution and sets, which match well with fan-con activations and managed asset releases. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize pin-drop sound, deep-bass stingers, and sudden silences that explode in larger rooms.

Month-by-month map

January is stacked. 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 brooding contrast amid marquee brands. The month buttons 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 serious, but the palette of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure creates breathing room for each if word of mouth holds.

Early-year through spring build the summer base. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reawakens a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was known for genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 presents gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can succeed next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest satisfies older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through premium screens.

August into fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil lines up after September 18, a early fall window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will engross cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely paired with a tease-and-hold strategy and limited previews that put concept first.

Year-end prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. The distributor has done this before, rolling out carefully, then pressing critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to remain in discourse into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and gift-card spend.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production rolls. Logline: Sidney returns to counter a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s genome. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s AI companion grows into something murderously loving. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal is complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: techno-horror with feeling.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy opens the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot sequentially with the first film. Positioning: prestige zombie continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man ventures back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a altering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: moody game adaptation built on atmosphere.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her abrasive boss battle to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power swivels and paranoia builds. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-centered survival shocker from a maestro.

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 modern reconception that returns the monster to menace, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal 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 closed-door haunting piece that plays with the chill of a child’s uncertain senses. Rating: TBD. Production: in the can. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers rejoining on the creative side. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at current genre trends and true-crime crazes. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: production booked 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 erupts, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: undetermined. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: ferocious R chapter primed for premium screens.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA in marketing materials. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a different family tethered to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: on track for summer lensing before late-summer rollout. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: forthcoming. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A from-scratch rebuild designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for true survival horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: not yet rated. Production: advancing. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-faithful speech and primal menace. Rating: TBD. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: high-craft holiday horror with awards-season tail.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: window fluid, autumn forecast.

Why the calendar favors 2026

Three operational forces frame this lineup. First, production that slowed or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can slot in fast because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming releases. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage meme-ready beats from test screenings, precision scare clips pegged to Thursday preview nights, and experiential pop-ups that generate creator assets. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the optimal band. Most of the films above will budget under the $40–$50 million tier, with many far below. That allows for deep PLF penetration 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 stealth-hit search 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 exploit those windows. 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. 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a sampler, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo 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 shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain heat and footfall without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers reliable Thursday lifts, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, aural design, 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 rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand power where it counts, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios read audience appetite for 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-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, produce clean trailers, lock the reveals, and let the gasps sell the seats.