Primordial Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a spine tingling horror feature, bowing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

This haunting otherworldly suspense film from cinematographer / film architect Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an primordial dread when foreigners become puppets in a supernatural ritual. Dropping this October 2nd, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango’s digital service.

Hollywood, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a gripping episode of continuance and archaic horror that will reshape horror this ghoul season. Guided by rising imaginative director Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and atmospheric screenplay follows five unknowns who arise trapped in a wooded cottage under the hostile rule of Kyra, a mysterious girl consumed by a legendary biblical demon. Arm yourself to be ensnared by a theatrical outing that merges bodily fright with biblical origins, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Demon possession has been a classic tradition in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is turned on its head when the presences no longer appear from an outside force, but rather from their psyche. This symbolizes the most primal dimension of the cast. The result is a relentless mind game where the tension becomes a ongoing fight between innocence and sin.


In a barren forest, five characters find themselves sealed under the dark rule and control of a enigmatic entity. As the protagonists becomes paralyzed to escape her will, isolated and attacked by forces unimaginable, they are confronted to wrestle with their deepest fears while the seconds brutally edges forward toward their end.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion swells and friendships collapse, urging each member to reconsider their existence and the concept of independent thought itself. The stakes grow with every minute, delivering a fear-soaked story that fuses mystical fear with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my narrative plan was to explore elemental fright, an entity from ancient eras, emerging via our fears, and challenging a evil that challenges autonomy when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Stepping into Kyra asked for exploring something past sanity. She is oblivious until the curse activates, and that flip is eerie because it is so emotional.”

Watch the Horror Unfold

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for public screening beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—giving customers no matter where they are can experience this demonic journey.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just premiered a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its first preview, which has collected over a viral response.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, delivering the story to thrill-seekers globally.


Make sure to see this unforgettable descent into darkness. Face *Young & Cursed* this horror drop to survive these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For behind-the-scenes access, on-set glimpses, and reveals from inside the story, follow @YoungAndCursed across social media and visit the official website.





U.S. horror’s tipping point: the 2025 cycle U.S. lineup interlaces primeval-possession lore, independent shockers, in parallel with franchise surges

Running from fight-to-live nightmare stories steeped in biblical myth as well as IP renewals in concert with focused festival visions, 2025 is shaping up as horror’s most layered combined with calculated campaign year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar is not merely full, it is methodical. major banners stabilize the year using marquee IP, at the same time SVOD players stack the fall with emerging auteurs plus mythic dread. At the same time, the independent cohort is riding the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Since Halloween is the prized date, the other windows are mapped with care. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, and in 2025, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are calculated, so 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major Studio Plans with Mini-Major Flex: Elevated fear reclaims ground

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 prepared the terrain, 2025 deepens the push.

Universal’s distribution arm kicks off the frame with a confident swing: a modernized Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell featuring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The metamorphosis extends past flesh, into marriage, parenthood, and human hurt. Booked into mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

By spring, Clown in a Cornfield premieres, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Early circuit chatter says it has bite.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. releases the last chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous 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.

The Black Phone 2 steps in next. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson resumes command, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: vintage toned fear, trauma explicitly handled, and eerie supernatural logic. This time the stakes climb, by digging further into the “grabber” mythos and grief’s generational echo.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, bridging teens and legacy players. It arrives in December, buttoning the final window.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While theaters lean on names and sequels, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Under Zach Cregger fronted by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Arriving to cinemas late summer then to streamers in fall, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the more intimate flank sits Together, an intimate body horror unraveling including Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It comes off amorous, macabre, and bracingly uneasy, a three act loop into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it is virtually assured for fall.

On the docket is Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn featuring Michael B. Jordan. Lensed in lush sepia and soaked in biblical metaphor, it mirrors There Will Be Blood meeting Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. First test passes flag it as highly discussable at debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed presents a rare union, close in focus, wide in mythology. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Resisting the exorcism template of Catholic ceremony and Latin chant, this story returns 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.

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 is an astute call. No bloated canon. No sequel clutter. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain the hothouse where next season’s horror grows. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller drenched in Aztec lore, is set to close the fest hot.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. With A24 behind it, the satire of toxic fandom under a convention lockdown seems breakout bound.

SXSW lifted Clown in a Cornfield and put microbudget hauntings into market talk. Sundance tends to present grief infused elevated horror and likely will, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Strategy at festivals now equals branding as well as discovery. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Legacy Brands: Sequels and Reboots, Reinvention Included

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, landing in July, re ups the 90s brand with a fresh lead and retro tone. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Visualize tiaras, fake gore, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, and aims to widen its techno horror mythology with new characters and AI generated terrors. The opening film’s buzz and platform staying power help Universal go bigger.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, steered by Francis Lawrence, it plays as a savage dystopian parable housed in survival horror, a walk to death contest without winners. With sharp marketing, it could translate to The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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

Dials to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
Lilith in Young & Cursed plus Aztec curses in Whistle highlight ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror pushes past jump scares, it points to ancient evil.

Body horror retakes ground
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamer originals stiffen their spine
Throwaway platform horror is on the way out. Streamers are investing in real scripts, real directors, and real marketing pushes. Entries like Weapons and Sinners get event treatment, not inventory.

Festival Hype Equals Market Leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. A horror film without a festival strategy in 2025 risks disappearing.

Big screen is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. Everything else heads to PVOD or hybrid drops. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Projection: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Keep an eye on possible slips into early 2026 or platform flips.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. 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 2026 Horror lineup: follow-ups, new stories, alongside A jammed Calendar optimized for nightmares

Dek: The new scare year packs at the outset with a January traffic jam, from there stretches through peak season, and straight through the December corridor, balancing series momentum, original angles, and savvy counterweight. Studios with streamers are doubling down on mid-range economics, cinema-first plans, and social-driven marketing that pivot horror entries into four-quadrant talking points.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has shown itself to be the dependable option in release strategies, a segment that can lift when it resonates and still protect the floor when it under-delivers. After 2023 proved to leaders that modestly budgeted pictures can steer cultural conversation, the following year extended the rally with director-led heat and word-of-mouth wins. The run fed into 2025, where reboots and awards-minded projects showed there is capacity for several lanes, from returning installments to director-led originals that play globally. The aggregate for the 2026 slate is a grid that reads highly synchronized across studios, with mapped-out bands, a equilibrium of brand names and original hooks, and a reinvigorated stance on box-office windows that drive downstream revenue on premium rental and subscription services.

Marketers add the horror lane now serves as a plug-and-play option on the schedule. The genre can arrive on numerous frames, provide a clean hook for trailers and TikTok spots, and lead with ticket buyers that line up on early shows and maintain momentum through the next pass if the entry pays off. After a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 configuration signals comfort in that model. The calendar begins with a busy January run, then exploits spring through early summer for counterprogramming, while carving room for a fall run that extends to the fright window and afterwards. The grid also highlights the stronger partnership of specialized labels and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, stoke social talk, and widen at the timely point.

Another broad trend is brand management across linked properties and legacy franchises. The studios are not just greenlighting another chapter. They are looking to package story carry-over with a specialness, whether that is a art treatment that broadcasts a new vibe or a casting choice that links a new entry to a vintage era. At the alongside this, the creative leads behind the most watched originals are championing tactile craft, special makeup and grounded locations. That blend offers the 2026 slate a lively combination of trust and discovery, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two big-ticket projects that bracket the tone map. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the lead, setting it up as both a passing of the torch and a origin-leaning character-forward chapter. Filming is in progress in Atlanta, and the tonal posture indicates a legacy-leaning angle without looping the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive driven by franchise iconography, early character teases, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount theatrical.

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 back together, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will emphasize. As a summer counter-slot, this one will pursue mass reach through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick turns to whatever drives the discourse that spring.

Universal has three clear projects. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, somber, and premise-first: a grieving man purchases an intelligent companion that turns into a fatal companion. The date nudges it to the front of a thick month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit uncanny-valley stunts and brief clips that fuses devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which preserves a public title to become an marketing beat closer to the early tease. The timing secures a slot in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film lands October 23, 2026, a slot he has made his own before. Peele titles are positioned as signature events, with a teaser that holds back and a subsequent trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The late-month date gives the studio room to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then activate the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, partners with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub anchoring. The franchise has proven that a raw, on-set effects led strategy can feel cinematic on a middle budget. Expect a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that leans hard into global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most overseas territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio deploys two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a dependable supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch progresses. Sony has repositioned on this title before, but the current plan locks it in late summer, where the brand has often excelled.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony movies is presenting as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a mission to serve both fans and novices. The fall slot allows Sony to build marketing units around world-building, and monster craft, elements that can amplify format premiums and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film carries forward Eggers’ run of period horror defined by textural authenticity and historical speech, this time orbiting lycan myth. The specialty arm has already reserved the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in Eggers as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is positive.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on familiar rails. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a tiered path that maximizes both debut momentum and subscriber lifts in the back half. Prime Video continues to mix catalogue additions with global acquisitions and brief theater runs when the data backs it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in archive usage, using in-app campaigns, holiday hubs, and curated rows to extend momentum on the horror cume. Netflix plays opportunist about internal projects and festival snaps, securing horror entries closer to launch and turning into events premieres with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, deploys a two-step of precision theatrical plays and fast windowing that translates talk to trials. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using genre-fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a curated basis. The platform has proven amenable to buy select projects with recognized filmmakers or star packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still draws on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for sustained usage when the genre conversation ramps.

Boutique label prospects

Cineverse is engineering a 2026 lane with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The offer is no-nonsense: the same foggy, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, reimagined for modern audio and picture. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a September to November window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a traditional cinema play for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the September weeks.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to scale. That positioning has shown results for director-led genre with four-quadrant hopes. 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 credible outlook is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception supports. Do not be surprised by 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 boutique theatrical to prime evangelism that fuels their community.

Franchises versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit cultural cachet. The risk, as ever, is audience fatigue. The practical approach is to sell each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is elevating core character and DNA in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leading with a continental coloration from a new voice. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries supply the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a survival shocker premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf grounds itself in period and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on a brand, the bundle is assuring enough to accelerate early sales and advance-audience nights.

Recent-year comps contextualize the template. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that respected streaming windows did not obstruct a day-and-date experiment from paying off when the brand was robust. In 2024, auteur craft horror over-performed in PLF. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they alter lens and elevate scope. 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 weblink paired-chapter approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, enables marketing to relate entries through character web and themes and to continue assets in field without pause points.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind the 2026 slate telegraph a continued lean toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the in-camera lean he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that foregrounds tone and tension rather than thrill-ride spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership sustaining smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the grimmest project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and period-faithful dialogue, a combination that can make for immersive sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in craft profiles and craft spotlights before rolling out a preview that withholds plot, a move that has performed for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for visceral gnarl, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and drives shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta recalibration that centers its original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on monster realization and design, which favor convention floor stunts and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel primary. Look for trailers that highlight surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in premium houses.

Calendar map: winter through the holidays

January is full. 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 useful reference January 23, a tonal palate cleanser amid heftier brand moves. The month wraps 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 spread of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth persists.

Late winter and spring tee up summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now backs big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 connects into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves hard-R intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can deliver next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have finished their premium pass.

End of summer through fall leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil follows September 18, a transitional slot that still bridges into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film locks October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-first teaser plan and limited plot reveals that trade in concept over detail.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can increase count in the first week of 2027 while building on holiday impulse and holiday gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

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 challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s genetic code. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s virtual companion unfolds into something fatal and romantic. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Shot back-to-back 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 finds his way back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to stumble upon a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished with U.S. theatrical locked. Positioning: fog-and-fear 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 abrasive boss claw to survive on a desolate island as the power dynamic swivels and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not yet announced in official materials. Logline: A fresh reimagining that returns the monster to nightmare, anchored by Cronin’s in-camera craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 in-home haunting scenario that threads the dread through a youth’s unsteady subjective lens. Rating: rating pending. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven occult suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in creative roles. Logline: {A comic send-up that lampoons of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime crazes. Rating: TBD. 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 ignites, with an global twist in tone and setting. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be announced in marketing. Top cast: pending. Logline: The Further extends again, with a new family lashed to residual nightmares. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: pending public reveal. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on true survival horror over action fireworks. Rating: forthcoming. Production: advancing in development with date locked. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: tightly guarded. Rating: pending. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker-led event with teaser rollout.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on historical diction and ancient menace. Rating: not yet rated. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. 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 conventional theatrical window prior to platforming. Status: timing fluid, autumn anticipated.

Why 2026 lands now

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that decelerated or shifted in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can plug those gaps fast because scripts often need fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more methodical about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming launches. Third, viral talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on bite-size scare clips from test screenings, orchestrated scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-year family and superhero blocks are thinner in 2026, offering breathing room for genre entries that can command a weekend or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four separate horror flavors will share space across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can leverage a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, 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 breakout hunt 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 press those advantages. January could easily deliver the first quiet breakout of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. 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.

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-beat supernatural run for date nights and group outings, July turns feral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can escalate across the year, using earlier releases to condition the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can earn PLF placement, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing detail, acoustics, and framing 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, Lined Up To Scare

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand equity where it matters, original vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios know when and how to deliver scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut sharp trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the gasps sell the seats.