Primeval Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a nerve shredding feature, rolling out October 2025 on global platforms

This eerie spiritual thriller from dramatist / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, releasing an prehistoric dread when guests become tokens in a satanic maze. Debuting on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – stay alert for *Young & Cursed*, a unnerving story of struggle and age-old darkness that will reimagine the fear genre this fall. Brought to life by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this psychological and emotionally thick fearfest follows five young adults who emerge ensnared in a hidden shack under the sinister will of Kyra, a haunted figure claimed by a biblical-era Old Testament spirit. Brace yourself to be drawn in by a visual presentation that fuses gut-punch terror with legendary tales, landing on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a well-established tradition in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is reversed when the monsters no longer form from external sources, but rather internally. This embodies the most sinister element of these individuals. The result is a bone-chilling cognitive warzone where the suspense becomes a ongoing face-off between virtue and vice.


In a isolated wilderness, five friends find themselves stuck under the evil influence and infestation of a unknown female figure. As the companions becomes powerless to withstand her control, left alone and chased by terrors impossible to understand, they are required to reckon with their darkest emotions while the timeline harrowingly winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, unease swells and ties crack, prompting each figure to challenge their values and the integrity of volition itself. The pressure magnify with every second, delivering a paranormal ride that blends mystical fear with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to uncover ancestral fear, an threat from ancient eras, embedding itself in fragile psyche, and navigating a being that erodes the self when freedom is gone.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra required summoning something unfamiliar to reason. She is blind until the entity awakens, and that shift is gut-wrenching because it is so deep.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for public screening beginning from October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—guaranteeing users in all regions can get immersed in this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new follow-up preview for *Young & Cursed*, uploaded to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow up to its intro video, which has collected over 100,000 views.


In addition to its domestic release, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be delivered to global audiences, making the film to global fright lovers.


Don’t miss this gripping path of possession. Explore *Young & Cursed* this launch day to face these nightmarish insights about the psyche.


For cast commentary, special features, and social posts from Chiaramonte Films, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across social media and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror decisive shift: 2025 for genre fans U.S. Slate integrates Mythic Possession, Indie Shockers, set against legacy-brand quakes

Kicking off with fight-to-live nightmare stories rooted in ancient scripture and onward to series comebacks plus incisive indie visions, 2025 stands to become the richest and calculated campaign year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors are anchoring the year through proven series, concurrently OTT services flood the fall with new voices plus primordial unease. Meanwhile, the independent cohort is surfing the uplift of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween stands as the showcase, the other windows are mapped with care. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, though in this cycle, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are hungry, studios are intentional, and 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Roadmap and Mini-Major Pulse: Prestige terror resurfaces

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 capitalizes.

the Universal camp leads off the quarter with a risk-forward move: a reinterpreted Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, but a sharp contemporary setting. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The curse reads as bodily and relational, about spouses, parents, and people. arriving mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

The spring frame introduces Clown in a Cornfield, 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. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

At summer’s close, Warner Bros. Pictures launches the swan song from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson reprise Ed and Lorraine Warren, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Granted the structure is classic, director Michael Chaves reportedly leans into a mournful, interior tone for the swan song. It goes early September, easing the path before October flood.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re engages, and the tone that worked before is intact: 70s style chill, trauma in the foreground, and eerie supernatural logic. This pass pushes higher, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a movie that scarcely needs conventional ads. The sequel leans deeper into its lore, thickens the animatronic pantheon, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It drops in December, cornering year end horror.

SVOD Originals: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatrical skews franchise first, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A top daring platform piece is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology braiding three timelines tied to a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger anchored by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Posting late summer theatrically then fall streaming, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

On the minimalist axis arrives Together, a tight space body horror vignette with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the script studies love with jealousy with self rejection turning into decay. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. Despite no official platform date, it reads like an autumn stream lock.

One more platform talker is Sinners, a 1930s period vampire folk story anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Captured with warm sepia and heavy biblical metaphor, it channels There Will Be Blood against Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. From writer director 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. With nightfall, Kyra’s power deepens, an invasive force mining their most secret fears, frailties, and regrets.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one digs into something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within 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. That is a savvy move. No puffed out backstory. No IP hangover. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In a spectacle stack, Young & Cursed could be the hush before the shriek.

Festival Born and Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF operate as greenhouses for horror six to twelve months down the line. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

This year, Fantastic Fest confirms a strong horror slate. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. A24 support plus satire of toxic fandom in a convention lockdown puts it on breakout watch.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Fest circuits are brand engines as much as discovery engines. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Franchise Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen returns in July, reviving the 90s franchise with new lead and retro color. Versus earlier beats, it favors 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 debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk adapts an early, scathing Stephen King work, with Francis Lawrence directing, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

Dials to Watch

Mythic dread mainstreams
From Lilith in Young & Cursed through Aztec curses in Whistle, teams draw on ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror does more than scare, it reminds that evil predates us.

Body horror ascends again
The likes of Together, Weapons, and Keeper reshift toward flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation function as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Platform originals gain 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
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Cinemas are a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Outlook: Fall saturation and a winter joker

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.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With some of the year’s biggest films leaning dark and mythic, the space for one final creature feature or exorcism flick is wide open.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The brief is not the next Get Out, it is horror with afterlife beyond receipts.



The next genre season: next chapters, Originals, as well as A packed Calendar tailored for shocks

Dek: The current horror cycle builds right away with a January wave, after that spreads through midyear, and pushing into the winter holidays, blending legacy muscle, new voices, and savvy offsets. Studios and streamers are doubling down on smart costs, cinema-first plans, and platform-native promos that shape horror entries into culture-wide discussion.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has grown into the consistent tool in studio lineups, a pillar that can grow when it resonates and still mitigate the losses when it falls short. After 2023 reconfirmed for buyers that modestly budgeted scare machines can steer mainstream conversation, 2024 extended the rally with auteur-driven buzzy films and surprise hits. The momentum fed into 2025, where resurrections and premium-leaning entries showed there is demand for a spectrum, from brand follow-ups to director-led originals that scale internationally. The result for 2026 is a schedule that looks unusually coordinated across studios, with purposeful groupings, a harmony of legacy names and untested plays, and a re-energized commitment on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and digital services.

Marketers add the genre now slots in as a fill-in ace on the programming map. The genre can arrive on virtually any date, yield a easy sell for spots and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with moviegoers that lean in on advance nights and maintain momentum through the next weekend if the feature lands. In the wake of a production delay era, the 2026 rhythm signals trust in that dynamic. The year launches with a thick January schedule, then uses spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while making space for a fall cadence that connects to late October and into the next week. The program also illustrates the increasing integration of specialty distributors and streamers that can develop over weeks, spark evangelism, and broaden at the precise moment.

A companion trend is IP cultivation across linked properties and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just pushing another follow-up. They are setting up brand continuity with a sense of event, whether that is a typeface approach that telegraphs a reframed mood or a casting pivot that binds a next film to a heyday. At the same time, the helmers behind the most buzzed-about originals are favoring on-set craft, makeup and prosthetics and site-specific worlds. That interplay gives the 2026 slate a robust balance of assurance and freshness, which is why the genre exports well.

The majors’ 2026 approach

Paramount establishes early momentum with two spotlight entries that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a legacy handover and a heritage-centered character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the creative stance points to a throwback-friendly strategy without looping the last two entries’ Carpenter sisters arc. A campaign is expected leaning on legacy iconography, character spotlights, and a trailer cadence landing toward late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also resurrects 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 summer alternative, this one will pursue mainstream recognition through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format making room for quick updates to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three clear bets. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The premise is simple, heartbroken, and big-hook: a grieving man installs an digital partner that grows into a harmful mate. The date lines it up at the front of a competition-heavy month, with Universal’s marketing likely to reprise strange in-person beats and brief clips that mixes intimacy and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which permits a title reveal to become an teaser payoff closer to the first trailer. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Finishing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. Peele projects are treated as director events, with a mystery-first teaser and a next wave of trailers that convey vibe without spoilers the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date allows Universal to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then work the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has demonstrated that a raw, in-camera leaning approach can feel high-value on a moderate cost. Expect a grime-caked summer horror shock that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio books two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, extending a trusty supernatural brand on the grid while the spin-off branch builds quietly. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has shown strength.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reboots in what Sony is framing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a key part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a explicit mandate to serve both diehards and fresh viewers. The fall slot affords Sony time to build materials around world-building, and creature design, elements that can accelerate format premiums 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 Eggers’ run of period horror built on textural authenticity and dialect, this time focused on werewolf legend. The label has already announced the holiday for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can platform and widen if early reception is warm.

How the platforms plan to play it

Platform plans for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre slate window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a sequence that optimizes both first-week urgency and trial spikes in the tail. Prime Video combines licensed content with global pickups and targeted theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu focus their lanes in library pulls, using editorial spots, seasonal hubs, and programmed rows to increase tail value on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps optionality about own-slate titles and festival additions, slotting horror entries closer to launch and positioning as event drops go-lives with compressed campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, exploits a dual-phase of tailored theatrical exposure and quick platforming that turns word of mouth into paid trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before working horror-fan channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a selective basis. The platform has been willing to acquire select projects with name filmmakers or star packages, then give them a select cinema run in partnership with exhibitors to meet guild rules or to gather buzz before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for monthly activity when the genre conversation ramps.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is quietly building a 2026 lane with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is simple: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, reimagined for modern audio-visual craft. 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 signaled a theatrical-first plan for Legacy, an positive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through festival season if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday slot to go wider. That positioning has served the company well for elevated genre with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines commonly finalize after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A safe bet is a sprinkle of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception warrants. Watch for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as partners, using precision theatrical to fuel evangelism that fuels their membership.

Legacy titles versus originals

By number, the 2026 slate is weighted toward the IP side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate marquee value. The risk, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a re-toned entry. Paramount is bringing forward character and lineage in Scream 7, great post to read Sony is suggesting a clean restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French sensibility from a rising filmmaker. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment whipsaws.

Originals and talent-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be marketed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, anchors on Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf leans on period specificity and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the cast-creatives package is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and first-night audiences.

Recent comps frame the template. In 2023, a theatrical-first plan that observed windows did not deter a day-date move from paying off when the brand was big. In 2024, filmmaker-craft-led horror exceeded expectations 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 two-step approach, with chapters filmed in sequence, lets marketing to link the films through relationships and themes and to keep materials circulating without pause points.

Creative tendencies and craft

The craft rooms behind the year’s horror telegraph a continued tilt toward tactile, place-driven craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not follow any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the hands-on effects stance he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that centers tone and tension rather than bombast, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has called Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and era-correct language, a combination that can make for 3D sound and a raw, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that keeps plot minimal, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is calibrated for practical nastiness, a signature of the series that works internationally in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on monster aesthetics and world-building, which fit with booth activations and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the cinema argument feel must-have. Look for trailers that elevate disciplined sound, deep-bass stingers, and mute beats that land in big rooms.

How the year maps out

January is loaded. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid marquee brands. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-and-paranoia piece from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread lets each find a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

Winter into spring load in summer. Scream 7 debuts February 27 with brand warmth. In April, The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sharpens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is light and four-quadrant, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 brings gnarly intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can thrive next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Shoulder season into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously excelled. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a opaque tease strategy and limited information drops that elevate concept over story.

Awards-adjacent specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a position that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as craft prestige horror. Focus has done this before, slow-rolling, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle 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 in progress as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits 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 virtual companion escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: AI chiller with a human heart.

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

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. 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 demanding boss claw to survive on a rugged island as the power balance of power shifts and suspicion grows. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: star-led survival horror from a master director.

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 modern reimagining that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s material craft and accumulating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Principal wrapped. Positioning: iconic monster return with auteur mark.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A in-home haunting piece that twists the horror of a child’s wobbly senses. Rating: to be announced. Production: post-ready. Positioning: studio-built and headline-actor led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A genre lampoon that pokes at today’s horror trends and true crime preoccupations. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-lane seasonal counterprogram.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an globe-spanning twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further widens again, with a young family entangled with past horrors. Rating: undetermined. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an focus on survival-driven horror over action spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: deliberately concealed. Rating: not yet rated. Production: active. 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 raw menace. Rating: TBD. Production: prepping toward a December 25 launch. Positioning: prestige-leaning holiday genre with crafts potential.

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 classic theatrical rollout before platforming. Status: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why the moment is 2026

Three nuts-and-bolts forces structure this lineup. First, production that downshifted or rearranged in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often use fewer locations, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and accelerated schedules. Second, studios have become more measured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently exceeded straight-to-streaming premieres. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will leverage shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that spark influencer coverage. It is a repeatable playbook because it pays off.

A fourth factor is programming math. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, making room for genre entries that can control a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four varied shades of horror will stack across five weekends, which keeps buzz lanes tidy. Summer provides the other window. The satire rides the animated and action tide, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will fit below the $40–$50 million line, 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 sleeper chase 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 leverage those opportunities. January could easily deliver the first stealth overachiever of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a spread, February delivers a legacy slasher, April restores a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers Thursday preview surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can warrant PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sound field, 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.

A Robust 2026 On Deck

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is sturdy. There is brand gravity where needed, creative ambition where it counts, 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 eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the scares sell the seats.