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

A blood-curdling supernatural thriller from literary architect / cinema craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, setting free an timeless horror when guests become subjects in a satanic ceremony. Releasing on October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube streaming, Google’s Play platform, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – hold tight for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing depiction of endurance and primeval wickedness that will revamp the fear genre this fall. Directed by rising creative mind Andrew Chiaramonte, this harrowing and tone-heavy feature follows five characters who wake up confined in a far-off house under the oppressive control of Kyra, a possessed female possessed by a timeless holy text monster. Get ready to be enthralled by a big screen venture that melds bone-deep fear with ancient myths, premiering on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Unholy possession has been a iconic foundation in cinema. In *Young & Cursed*, that norm is reversed when the spirits no longer arise from an outside force, but rather from their psyche. This embodies the most primal facet of the protagonists. The result is a relentless identity crisis where the drama becomes a brutal face-off between moral forces.


In a abandoned backcountry, five youths find themselves caught under the possessive force and haunting of a enigmatic apparition. As the survivors becomes incapable to fight her manipulation, left alone and hunted by terrors unimaginable, they are required to confront their darkest emotions while the time unforgivingly counts down toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, delusion rises and associations shatter, urging each protagonist to examine their character and the principle of liberty itself. The stakes intensify with every minute, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that combines supernatural terror with human fear.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my focus was to tap into instinctual horror, an force born of forgotten ages, manifesting in mental cracks, and exposing a power that challenges autonomy when consciousness is fragmented.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra was about accessing something deeper than fear. She is insensitive until the control shifts, and that change is emotionally raw because it is so personal.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be distributed for horror fans beginning this October 2, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—so that horror lovers everywhere can survive this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just launched a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, online to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a second look to its first trailer, which has earned over thousands of viewers.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has broadcast that *Young & Cursed* will also be distributed abroad, extending the thrill to a worldwide audience.


Experience this haunted path of possession. Confront *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to uncover these terrifying truths about our species.


For featurettes, special features, and promotions via the production team, follow @YACMovie across Facebook and TikTok and visit the film’s website.





American horror’s decisive shift: 2025 U.S. lineup weaves myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, together with IP aftershocks

Kicking off with endurance-driven terror inspired by biblical myth and onward to returning series and incisive indie visions, 2025 looks like the most complex paired with carefully orchestrated year of the last decade.

The 2025 horror calendar is more than crowded, it is calculated. studio majors bookend the months with established lines, even as OTT services flood the fall with debut heat as well as legend-coded dread. Across the art-house lane, the independent cohort is carried on the echoes of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, players are marking January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are calculated, accordingly 2025 may prove the most strategically arranged season.

What Studios and Mini-Majors Are Doing: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 presses the advantage.

the Universal banner leads off the quarter with an audacious swing: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Under director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The transformation is not just physical, it is marital, parental, and painfully human. Slated for mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring ushers in Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher adaptation reframed as lean dread. From director Eli Craig featuring turns by Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it runs as red stained heartland dread with sharp satire. Under the costume, it needles small town fear, cross generational rifts, and crowd punishment. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

By late summer, Warner’s schedule launches the swan song from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Although the framework is familiar, Chaves reportedly keys a sorrowing, contemplative note in the capstone. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

After that, The Black Phone 2. Set early then moved to October, a confidence tell. Derrickson resumes command, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: 70s style chill, trauma driven plotting, plus otherworld rules that chill. Here the stakes rise, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the marquee stack is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a title that can sell without classic marketing. The next entry deepens the tale, grows the animatronic horror lineup, reaching teens and game grownups. It hits in December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Digital Originals: Economy, maximum dread

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

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a multi timeline cold-case dread piece splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the film fuses dread with dramatic heft. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a body horror chamber piece anchored by 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 lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. While no platform has formally placed a date, it is a lock for fall streaming.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Shot in rich sepia tones and drenched in biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The film interrogates American religious trauma through supernatural allegory. Advance tests paint it as a watercooler streamer.

Several other streaming indies are quietly waiting in the wings: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed stands as a rare hybrid, both intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Conceived and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the story trails five strangers who come to in a far off forest cabin, ruled 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 dread here runs psychological, charged by primal myth. Skipping the exorcism norm of Catholic rite and Latin line, this film taps something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

The Halloween window on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home frames the film as counter to sequel saturation and creature revivals. That is a savvy move. No swollen lore. No series drag. Just pure psychological dread, contained, tense, and tailor made for the binge and breathe rhythm of digital horror fans. Against fireworks, Young & Cursed might stand apart by stillness, then shock.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF still seed what horror becomes in six to twelve months. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

This year’s Fantastic Fest has already confirmed a strong horror lineup. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, a revenge folktale steeped in Aztec myth, is tapped to close with fire.

Those midnight titles, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, buzz from delivery as much as naming. 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 expected to unspool a familiar crop of grief steeped elevated horror, where Tribeca’s genre program draws urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. A Fantastic Fest or TIFF badge is phase one marketing, not a coda.

Legacy IP: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

Legacy IP arrives sturdier and more intentional this cycle.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Departing prior tones, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 posts late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

The Long Walk arrives off an early Stephen King survival piece, from Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

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

Signals and Trends

Mythic horror goes mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed, and with Aztec curses in Whistle, horror taps ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror extends beyond terror, it frames evil as primordial.

Body horror retakes ground
Entries like Together, Weapons, and Keeper shift back to flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation encode heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. Platforms show up with budgets for scripts, directors, and campaigns. Works such as Weapons and Sinners are positioned as events, not filler.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels move markets, opening release doors and coverage arcs. Forgo a festival map in 2025 and obscurity beckons.

Theaters are a trust fall
Theater slots go to likely overachievers or franchise starters. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Season Ahead: Autumn density and winter pivot

Stacking Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October yields saturation. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 steadies December, yet a last minute streamer surprise is in play. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

What matters is slate breadth meeting fractured audiences, not one crown jewel. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The forthcoming 2026 spook release year: follow-ups, fresh concepts, in tandem with A jammed Calendar tailored for screams

Dek The emerging scare year crams immediately with a January traffic jam, from there unfolds through peak season, and deep into the festive period, combining IP strength, untold stories, and data-minded alternatives. The major players are prioritizing right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that transform the slate’s entries into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror has shown itself to be the sturdy move in studio calendars, a segment that can scale when it performs and still buffer the floor when it doesn’t. After the 2023 year demonstrated to executives that efficiently budgeted fright engines can dominate social chatter, 2024 carried the beat with director-led heat and stealth successes. The run moved into the 2025 frame, where legacy revivals and critical darlings highlighted there is capacity for many shades, from franchise continuations to non-IP projects that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a grid that shows rare alignment across companies, with purposeful groupings, a pairing of recognizable IP and new packages, and a tightened strategy on box-office windows that power the aftermarket on premium digital and home streaming.

Planners observe the category now acts as a swing piece on the calendar. The genre can debut on virtually any date, supply a simple premise for promo reels and vertical videos, and punch above weight with audiences that appear on opening previews and hold through the subsequent weekend if the picture fires. Following a strike-induced shuffle, the 2026 layout demonstrates belief in that equation. The year commences with a loaded January block, then uses spring and early summer for balance, while making space for a fall cadence that runs into spooky season and past the holiday. The arrangement also shows the tightening integration of boutique distributors and home platforms that can grow from platform, spark evangelism, and widen at the timely point.

A companion trend is series management across ongoing universes and heritage properties. Studio teams are not just producing another continuation. They are looking to package lineage with a marquee sheen, whether that is a typeface approach that broadcasts a refreshed voice or a casting move that threads a incoming chapter to a classic era. At the in tandem, the auteurs behind the headline-grabbing originals are doubling down on material texture, special makeup and distinct locales. That pairing delivers the 2026 slate a lively combination of comfort and newness, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Inside the studio playbooks

Paramount establishes early momentum with two big-ticket entries that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the top job and Neve Campbell back at the lead, marketing it as both a succession moment and a rootsy character-forward chapter. Production is underway in Atlanta, and the directional approach hints at a throwback-friendly approach without replaying the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Look for a marketing run driven by franchise iconography, character-first teases, and a teaser-to-trailer rhythm slated for late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s theatrical route.

Paramount also reignites a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative partners for the first time since the early 2000s, a campaign lever the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will pursue wide buzz through meme-friendly cuts, with the horror spoof format inviting quick shifts to whatever dominates pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three specific lanes. SOULM8TE hits January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The logline is straightforward, sorrow-tinged, and easily pitched: a grieving man sets up an synthetic partner that becomes a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a front-loaded month, with marketing at Universal likely to revisit creepy live activations and brief clips that fuses romance and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The listed schedule currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a title drop to become an marketing beat closer to the first look. The timing gives the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles circle other weekends.

Closing out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film claims October 23, 2026, a slot he has commanded before. His projects are treated as creative events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a next wave of trailers that establish tone without plot reveals the concept. The holiday-adjacent corridor gives the studio room to command pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then press 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 commands, with Souheila Yacoub top-lining. The franchise has made clear that a flesh-and-blood, hands-on effects execution can feel deluxe on a moderate cost. Position this as a blood-and-grime summer horror shock that emphasizes international markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio rolls out two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch advances. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil steps back in what Sony is describing as a ground-zero restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a foundational part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a focus to serve both fans and first-timers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build materials around narrative world, and creature design, elements that can lift deluxe auditorium demand and cosplay-friendly fan engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, positions a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film maintains Eggers’ run of period horror rooted in immersive craft and archaic language, this time driven by werewolf stories. The company has already set the date for a holiday release, a promissory note in Eggers as a specialty play that can scale widely if early reception is strong.

Digital platform strategies

Windowing plans in 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles head to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a pacing that maximizes both first-week urgency and platform bumps in the tail. Prime Video stitches together library titles with cross-border buys and limited cinema engagements when the data recommends it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog engagement, using seasonal hubs, horror hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on the annual genre haul. Netflix retains agility about Netflix originals and festival pickups, locking in horror entries toward the drop and staging as events debuts with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, works a hybrid of precision releases and fast windowing that turns chatter to conversion. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which click to read more Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ adopts case-by-case posture for horror on a situational basis. The platform has shown appetite to board select projects with prestige directors or celebrity-led packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualification bars or to create word of mouth before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a notable driver for month-over-month retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is curating a 2026 track with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is clean: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a favorite of fans, updated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a late-year slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a traditional cinema play for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the Christmas corridor to increase reach. That positioning has delivered for filmmaker-first horror with crossover potential. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not firmed many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a selection of late-summer and fall platformers that can surge if reception justifies. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that debuts at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work as a pair, using mini theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their paid base.

Known brands versus new stories

By tilt, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on brand equity. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to pitch each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is leading with character and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is indicating a ground-zero restart for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-tinted vision from a rising filmmaker. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Non-franchise titles and visionary-led titles add air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be pitched as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, features Rachel McAdams in a crash-survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a focused, eerie tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an hard-edged tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the cast-creatives package is grounded enough to spark pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Recent comps clarify the logic. In 2023, a cinema-first model that maintained windows did not hamper a simultaneous release test from winning when the brand was potent. In 2024, craft-first auteur horror exceeded expectations in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they reframe POV and elevate scope. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which proceeds January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters produced back-to-back, creates space for marketing to tie installments through character spine and themes and to keep materials circulating without lulls.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind the upcoming entries telegraph a continued preference for hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that reinforces the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film closed principal and is tracking to its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that leans on creep and texture rather than theme-park spectacle, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership backing efficient spending.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most forbidding project he has tackled, which tracks with a historical setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a icy, primal tone on the big screen. Focus will likely showcase this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a tease that keeps plot minimal, a move that has played for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is geared for rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and generates shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a self-aware reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature execution and sets, which are ideal for fan conventions and curated leaks. Insidious tends to be a soundstage showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel necessary. Look for trailers that underscore pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and hush beats that land in big rooms.

From winter to holidays

January is busy. 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 somber counterpoint amid macro-brand pushes. The month buttons with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a survival-horror from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the palette of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth spreads.

February through May tee up summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with brand warmth. In April, New Line’s The Mummy re-centers a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once was home to genre counterprogramming and now enables big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 bridges into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer splits the lanes. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is coherent. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest rewards older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil rolls in after September 18, a late-September window that still builds toward Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film claims October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely reinforced by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited previews that trade in concept over detail.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday gift-card burn.

Embedded title notes

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to meet a new Ghostface while the narrative returns to the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: return-to-core with a fresh edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A heartbroken man’s AI companion escalates into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy expands the scope beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem 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 encounter a unstable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Done with U.S. run set. Positioning: tone-first game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss work to survive on a lonely island as the power balance of power shifts and suspicion grows. 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 kept quiet in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to horror, rooted in Cronin’s practical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: classic creature relaunch with signature touch.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting scenario that filters its scares through a minor’s uncertain perspective. Rating: TBA. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed and star-fronted haunting thriller.

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 spoof revival that targets modern genre fads and true crime fascinations. Rating: not yet rated. Production: fall 2025 shoot penciled in. 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 detonates, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: currently in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further widens again, with a new family snared by ancient dread. Rating: forthcoming. Production: gearing up for summer filming with late-summer bow. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: A re-seeded launch designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: awaiting classification. 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: undisclosed. Logline: closely held. Rating: undetermined. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on time-true diction and primordial menace. Rating: TBA. 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: slot unsettled, fall projected.

Why 2026 and why now

Three execution-level forces drive this lineup. First, production that stalled or re-slotted in 2024 needed spacing on the calendar. Horror can fill those gaps quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale visual effects runs, and condensed timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming launches. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will activate repeatable beats from test screenings, precision scare clips paired with Thursday night previews, and experiential pop-ups that double as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it works.

Factor four is the scheduling calculus. Early-2026 family and superhero concentrations ease, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four genre tones will line up across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody aligns with early family and action waves, then the hard-R entry can take advantage of a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Cost, ratings, and sleeper dynamics

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for strong PLF footprints without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where midrange-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to capitalize on those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

Audience rhythm across the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers cadence and diversity. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch 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 chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you keep the discourse going and the seats filled without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can gain momentum, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

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

A Promising 2026

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is brand gravity where needed, fresh vision where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one last-minute boutique pickup join the party. For now, the job is simple, edit tight trailers, preserve the surprise, and let the screams sell the seats.