Antediluvian Terror Ascends in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, launching Oct 2025 across premium platforms

An eerie occult horror tale from literary architect / director Andrew Chiaramonte, triggering an timeless curse when strangers become victims in a cursed ordeal. Dropping October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s Play platform, Apple iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.

L.A., CA (August 8th, 2025) – gear up for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing journey of struggle and timeless dread that will reshape horror this cool-weather season. Realized by rising cinematic craftsman Andrew Chiaramonte, this gritty and gothic motion picture follows five unacquainted souls who are stirred stuck in a unreachable shelter under the malignant control of Kyra, a female presence inhabited by a legendary sacred-era entity. Be prepared to be enthralled by a motion picture event that intertwines instinctive fear with folklore, premiering on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Possession by evil has been a recurring theme in the entertainment world. In *Young & Cursed*, that concept is turned on its head when the presences no longer originate externally, but rather internally. This represents the malevolent part of the cast. The result is a relentless spiritual tug-of-war where the intensity becomes a soul-crushing battle between good and evil.


In a abandoned outland, five youths find themselves isolated under the malicious rule and haunting of a mysterious entity. As the group becomes unable to fight her manipulation, left alone and followed by presences unimaginable, they are forced to stand before their darkest emotions while the clock unforgivingly counts down toward their expiration.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia grows and teams fracture, forcing each individual to reflect on their personhood and the idea of self-determination itself. The stakes grow with every tick, delivering a cinematic nightmare that combines unearthly horror with deep insecurity.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my vision was to tap into ancestral fear, an darkness rooted in antiquity, operating within emotional fractures, and challenging a will that tests the soul when will is shattered.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Portraying Kyra was centered on something far beyond human desperation. She is uninformed until the demon emerges, and that conversion is soul-crushing because it is so private.”

Platform Access

*Young & Cursed* will be available for streaming beginning from October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—so that fans worldwide can witness this spine-tingling premiere.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just published a new second trailer for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its original clip, which has received over 100K plays.


In addition to its regional launch, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be released internationally, bringing the film to a global viewership.


Witness this unforgettable exploration of dread. Tune into *Young & Cursed* this spooky debut to see these unholy truths about the human condition.


For exclusive trailers, on-set glimpses, and reveals from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedMovie across social media and visit the official movie site.





American horror’s pivotal crossroads: calendar year 2025 U.S. release slate Mixes ancient-possession motifs, Indie Shockers, stacked beside legacy-brand quakes

Moving from life-or-death fear inspired by biblical myth and including returning series and surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the most dimensioned together with tactically planned year in a decade.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. studio majors hold down the year through proven series, in tandem streamers crowd the fall with first-wave breakthroughs in concert with mythic dread. In parallel, the micro-to-mid budget ranks is buoyed by the carry of a record-setting 2024 festival season. With Halloween still the genre’s crown piece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The September, October gauntlet has become standard, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are exacting, thus 2025 could stand as the most orchestrated year.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: The Return of Prestige Fear

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

Universal’s slate fires the first shot with an audacious swing: a refreshed Wolf Man, leaving behind the period European setting, inside today’s landscape. From director Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott with Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The evolution surpasses the body, into spouses, parents, and bruised humanity. targeting 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 translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig including Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it moves like barn born dread with razor satire. Under the guise, it interrogates township panic, generational breaks, and mob rule. Initial heat flags it as potent.

At summer’s close, the Warner Bros. banner unveils the final movement within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It is dated for early September, granting margin before October’s crush.

The Black Phone 2 slots behind. Initially pegged for early summer, an October berth implies conviction. Derrickson returns to the helm, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: period tinged dread, trauma in the foreground, with spooky supernatural reasoning. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

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, broadens the animatronic terror cast, bridging teens and legacy players. It lands in December, holding the cold season’s end.

Platform Plays: Low budgets, big teeth

While the big screen favors titles you know, streamers are taking risks, and it is paying off.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite splicing three ages joined by a mass disappearance. From Zach Cregger with turns by Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it is poised to inspire think pieces and forums, echoing Barbarian.

In the micro chamber lane is Together, a tight space body horror vignette fronted by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Trapped in a far off rental as a holiday fractures, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It feels intimate, ghastly, and profoundly uneasy, a three part fall into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is a near certain autumn drop.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s rooted vampire folk legend fronted by Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it recalls There Will Be Blood spliced to Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Pre release tests anoint it a conversation starter on streaming.

A cluster of streaming indies sits ready: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each engages grief, missing persons, and identity, with metaphor before show.

Deep Possession Currents: Young & Cursed

Bowing October 2 on major streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. 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. As night descends, so does Kyra’s power, an invasive force that exploits their deepest fears, weaknesses, and regrets.

The threat is psychological first, wired with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this story returns to something older, something darker. Lilith comes not via liturgy, but from trauma, quiet, and human brittleness. By making possession inward rather than external, Young & Cursed joins a trend toward intimate character studies masked as 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. It reads as sharp positioning. No heavy handed lore. No canon weight. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. In the noise, Young & Cursed could cut through by staying hushed, then erupting.

From Festivals to Market

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. This cycle, they are launchpads first and showcases second.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

The midnight bench, including If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, hums from execution, not mere titling. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, and Tribeca’s genre box tilting urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. Festival laurels are opening moves, not closing notes.

Long Running Lines: Reups, Reboots, and Rethinks

Legacy entries present stronger and more purposeful this time.

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. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI 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, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it shows as a grim dystopian parable set in survival horror, a youth walk ending only in death. With the right pitch, it could function as The Hunger Games for grown horror audiences.

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.

Trends Worth Watching

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

Body horror retakes ground
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit 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 deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Titles such as Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not mere content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Wreaths work as currency, buying release slots, placement, and press. No festival plan in 2025, and disappearance looms.

Theatrical Is Now a Trust Fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The remainder goes PVOD or hybrid. Horror is not vanishing from theaters, it is getting curated.

Forward View: Autumn crowding, winter surprise

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will scrap for air. Anticipate possible date slides into early 2026 or platform moves.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 anchors December, and a surprise streaming drop could still arrive late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The oncoming spook lineup: brand plays, Originals, paired with A brimming Calendar tailored for chills

Dek: The new scare cycle stacks in short order with a January glut, subsequently extends through summer, and pushing into the winter holidays, marrying series momentum, untold stories, and savvy calendar placement. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on responsible budgets, exclusive theatrical windows first, and social-fueled campaigns that elevate these releases into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has proven to be the predictable swing in release plans, a space that can spike when it performs and still mitigate the drawdown when it does not. After the 2023 year signaled to buyers that modestly budgeted horror vehicles can own the zeitgeist, 2024 kept energy high with visionary-driven titles and word-of-mouth wins. The momentum moved into 2025, where revived properties and festival-grade titles signaled there is demand for diverse approaches, from ongoing IP entries to standalone ideas that play globally. The net effect for 2026 is a slate that feels more orchestrated than usual across the field, with strategic blocks, a mix of established brands and novel angles, and a tightened priority on theatrical windows that increase tail monetization on PVOD and subscription services.

Executives say the genre now works like a fill-in ace on the schedule. Horror can roll out on open real estate, generate a simple premise for trailers and TikTok spots, and outperform with viewers that lean in on Thursday previews and keep coming through the week two if the release connects. Following a work stoppage lag, the 2026 plan demonstrates trust in that logic. The year opens with a crowded January band, then exploits spring through early summer for audience offsets, while clearing room for a fall cadence that flows toward holiday-adjacent weekends and past the holiday. The map also reflects the continuing integration of specialty arms and SVOD players that can grow from platform, generate chatter, and widen at the precise moment.

A parallel macro theme is legacy care across connected story worlds and established properties. Distribution groups are not just making another chapter. They are setting up lineage with a occasion, whether that is a title treatment that telegraphs a re-angled tone or a casting choice that connects a next film to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the creative leads behind the eagerly awaited originals are favoring material texture, on-set effects and place-driven backdrops. That blend produces 2026 a healthy mix of brand comfort and shock, which is a recipe that travels worldwide.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount establishes early momentum with two prominent releases that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director position and Neve Campbell back at the lead, angling it as both a handoff and a heritage-centered character-centered film. Filming is underway in Atlanta, and the creative stance signals a legacy-leaning approach without recycling the last two entries’ sibling arc. A campaign is expected stacked with signature symbols, character spotlights, and a two-beat trailer plan aimed at late fall. Distribution is theatrical through Paramount.

Paramount also revives a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back on screen, with the Wayans brothers involved as creative voices for the first time since the early 2000s, a linchpin the campaign will lean on. As a summer relief option, this one will hunt four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format permitting quick updates to whatever leads trend lines that spring.

Universal has three defined plays. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The foundation is tidy, tragic, and logline-clear: a grieving man brings home an algorithmic mate that escalates into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a stacked January, with the marketing arm likely to bring back odd public stunts and micro spots that fuses devotion and foreboding.

On May 8, 2026, the studio slots an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely read as the feature developed under internal titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The posted calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which sets up a final title to become an PR pop closer to the initial tease. The timing hands the studio a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are set up as director events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that signal tone without plot the concept. The pre-Halloween slot opens a lane to take 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, teams with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček guides, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has long shown that a raw, makeup-driven method can feel prestige on a controlled budget. Frame it as a red-band summer horror jolt that pushes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most offshore territories.

Sony’s horror bench is surprisingly deep. The studio places two recognizable-IP pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film bows August 21, 2026, maintaining a bankable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch evolves. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan plants it in late summer, where Insidious has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil reappears in what the studio is describing as a reimagined restart for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a central part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a sharper mandate to serve both devotees and newcomers. The fall slot offers Sony space to build marketing units around universe detail, and creature builds, elements that can increase IMAX and PLF uptake and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes 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 driven by historical precision and language, this time set against lycan legends. The company has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a clear message in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is warm.

How the platforms plan to play it

Home-platform rhythms for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal titles flow to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a cadence that expands both initial urgency and subscription bumps in the later window. Prime Video interleaves licensed films with worldwide buys and targeted theatrical runs when the data warrants it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using seasonal hubs, spooky hubs, and curated rows to maximize the tail on overall cume. Netflix keeps optionality about first-party entries and festival snaps, dating horror entries near launch and staging as events rollouts with fast-turn plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, capitalizes on a paired of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that turns chatter to conversion. That will be meaningful for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ keeps selective horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has proven amenable to acquire select projects with accomplished filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a prestige theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet qualifying rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still leverages the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 arc with two IP plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The promise is tight: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a diehard favorite, retooled for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has indicated a cinema-first plan for Legacy, an good sign for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the autumn stretch.

Focus will lean into the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then activating the holiday corridor to widen. That positioning has helped for arthouse horror with award possibilities. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A reasonable expectation is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception drives. Anticipate an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that surges from Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder this contact form often work in parallel, using boutique theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their audience.

Brands and originals

By proportion, the 2026 slate tips toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all draw on brand equity. The concern, as ever, is brand erosion. The standing approach is to position each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is centering relationship and legacy in Scream 7, Sony is signaling a full reset for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is maximizing a Francophone tone from a breakout filmmaker. Those choices make a difference when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles provide the air. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, casts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an unsparing tone. Even when the title is not based on a property, the packaging is recognizable enough to drive advance ticketing and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps make sense of the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that respected streaming windows did not hamper a dual release from delivering when the brand was powerful. In 2024, art-forward horror exceeded expectations in premium large format. In 2025, a revival of a beloved infection saga broadcast that global horror franchises can still feel renewed when they change perspective and raise the stakes. 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 paired-chapter approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, gives leeway to marketing to link the films through personae and themes and to keep assets in-market without lulls.

How the look and feel evolve

The director conversations behind these films foreshadow a continued tilt toward in-camera, locale-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not track with any recent iteration of the property, a stance that fits with the prosthetic-forward taste he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film completed principal and is aimed at its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds atmosphere and fear rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has described Werwulf as the most chilling project he has tackled, which tracks with a 13th-century milieu and era-true language, a combination that can make for enveloping sound design and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and technical spotlights before rolling out a teaser that plays with mood rather than plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is designed for gristle and gore, a signature of the series that performs globally in red-band trailers and creates shareable crowd-reaction snippets from early screenings. Scream 7 offers a meta inflection that centers its original star. Resident Evil will hit or miss on creature work and production design, which play well in convention floor stunts and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel key. Look for trailers that emphasize fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that play in premium auditoriums.

How the year maps out

January is crowded. 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 moody palate cleanser amid big-brand pushes. The month concludes 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 serious, but the variety of tones gives each title a lane, and the five-week structure hands each a runway for each if word of mouth carries.

February through May load in summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 opens February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, The Mummy reimagines a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer heightens the contrast. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is comedic and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers blood-heavy intensity. The counterprogramming logic is smart. The spoof can pop next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest scratches the itch for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

August and September into October leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously done well. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a shoulder-season slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely backed by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited disclosures that lean on concept not plot.

December specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can hold in the holidays when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, slow-rolling, then using critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to keep the film in the conversation into January. If the film wins with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift card usage.

Title snapshots

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting ongoing as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to oppose a new Ghostface while the narrative resurfaces the original film’s genes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots-first with a today edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s virtual companion evolves into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot completed for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech shocker with 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 hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige apocalypse continuation.

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 shimmering reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. Positioning: atmospheric game adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss try to survive on a isolated island as the pecking order tilts and paranoia creeps in. Rating: TBA. Production: Shoot complete. Positioning: A-list 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 contemporary retelling that returns the monster to fright, founded on Cronin’s on-set craft and quiet dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: legacy monster restart with director stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting setup that frames the panic through a child’s unreliable point of view. Rating: to be announced. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-supported and marquee-led ghost thriller.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers re-engaging creatively. Logline: {A satirical comeback that targets in-vogue horror tropes and true-crime buzz. Rating: not yet rated. Production: principal photography set 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 breaks out, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-R franchise continuation built for premium large format.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: to be revealed later. Top cast: TBA. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a new clan lashed to returning horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be disclosed. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A restart designed to rebuild the franchise from the ground up, with an emphasis on true survival horror over action-heavy spectacle. Rating: pending. Production: development underway with firm date. Positioning: fidelity-minded reboot with crossover prospects.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBA. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: forthcoming. Production: moving forward. Positioning: director event, teaser-led.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on era-accurate language and primal menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: building toward Christmas Day opening. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

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

Why this year, why now

Three pragmatic forces inform this lineup. First, production that decelerated or recalendared in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and compressed schedules. Second, studios have become more rigorous about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outperformed straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, social buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that become influencer fuel. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

The slot calculus is real. Early 2026 is less crowded with family and superhero corridors, offering breathing room for genre entries that can capture a weekend or stand as the older-leaning counter. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will stack across five weekends, which allows chatter to build title by title. Summer provides the other window. The parody can surf the early-summer animated and action swell, then the hard-R entry can use a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the strike zone. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for heavy premium placement 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 value-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 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.

How the year flows for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers pattern and spread. January is a tasting table, February delivers a legacy slasher, April Get More Info reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a supernatural one-two for date nights and group outings, July goes red-band, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a bleak, literate nightmare. That is how you keep chatter alive and occupancy strong without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to set up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, right-sized allotments, 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 grain, sound field, and camera work 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 Shapes Up Strong

Slots move. Ratings change. Casts adjust. But the spine of 2026 horror is established. There is franchise muscle where it helps, creative ambition where it counts, and a calendar that shows studios understand how and when audiences want to be scared. 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, edit tight trailers, protect the mystery, and let the shudders sell the seats.