Primeval Evil Returns within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising chiller, debuting Oct 2025 on top digital platforms

This haunting paranormal shockfest from writer / director Andrew Chiaramonte, unleashing an ancient force when passersby become tools in a demonic conflict. Launching October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes Movies, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a traumatizing story of struggle and age-old darkness that will reimagine the horror genre this autumn. Helmed by rising director to watch Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and cinematic cinema piece follows five young adults who find themselves ensnared in a hidden shelter under the menacing rule of Kyra, a troubled woman controlled by a ancient biblical demon. Arm yourself to be drawn in by a cinematic ride that harmonizes deep-seated panic with ancient myths, hitting on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a enduring tradition in horror films. In *Young & Cursed*, that pattern is redefined when the dark entities no longer emerge externally, but rather through their own souls. This depicts the most primal part of the players. The result is a emotionally raw internal warfare where the suspense becomes a brutal conflict between virtue and vice.


In a wilderness-stricken forest, five youths find themselves caught under the dark effect and curse of a secretive figure. As the companions becomes unable to deny her dominion, abandoned and followed by presences unfathomable, they are confronted to reckon with their darkest emotions while the final hour without pause ticks onward toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety rises and friendships crack, compelling each character to rethink their values and the philosophy of independent thought itself. The threat intensify with every breath, delivering a frightening tale that connects otherworldly suspense with mental instability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to extract basic terror, an curse from prehistory, influencing inner turmoil, and exposing a presence that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Channeling Kyra asked for exploring something rooted in terror. She is clueless until the entity awakens, and that conversion is emotionally raw because it is so internal.”

Distribution & Access

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for worldwide release beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google Play, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—making sure audiences from coast to coast can dive into this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just dropped a new trailer two for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a follow-through to its release of trailer #1, which has been viewed over 100,000 views.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, delivering the story to viewers around the world.


Experience this cinematic path of possession. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to experience these spiritual awakenings about mankind.


For previews, filmmaker commentary, and promotions from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursed across Instagram and Twitter and visit youngandcursed.com.





Today’s horror watershed moment: the 2025 cycle American release plan blends myth-forward possession, signature indie scares, in parallel with tentpole growls

From survivor-centric dread grounded in primordial scripture and stretching into installment follow-ups and cutting indie sensibilities, 2025 stands to become the most complex combined with calculated campaign year in ten years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. studio majors bookend the months with known properties, concurrently streamers flood the fall with new perspectives alongside mythic dread. On the festival side, horror’s indie wing is propelled by the tailwinds of 2024’s record festival wave. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the surrounding weeks are charted with intent. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are targeted, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Major and Mini-Major Maneuvers: Prestige fear returns

The studios are not sitting idle. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 deepens the push.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, instead in a current-day frame. Directed by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott alongside Julia Garner, this version roots the lycanthropy in family fracture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. arriving mid January, it advances a tactic to control the winter valley through premium horror, not dumps.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher page-to-screen distilled into spare horror. Guided by Eli Craig and featuring Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the greasepaint sits a critique of small town suspicion, generational fracture, and vigilante justice. First wave buzz indicates sharp teeth.

As summer wanes, the Warner lot rolls out the capstone from its bankable horror series: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson returning as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the film signals catharsis as it engages a widely cited real case. Though the formula is familiar, Michael Chaves appears to favor a elegiac, inward tone here. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Next is The Black Phone 2. Originally slated for early summer, its move to an October release suggests confidence. Derrickson re boards, and those signature textures resurface: retrograde shiver, trauma as theme, with ghostly inner logic. The ante is higher this round, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Capping the big ticket run is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The new chapter enriches the lore, broadens the animatronic terror cast, while aiming for teen viewers and thirty something game loyalists. It lands in December, pinning the winter close.

Streaming Offerings: Slim budgets, major punch

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, platforms are greenlighting boldly, and the needle moves.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Led by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it stands to prompt frame-by-frame breakdowns as with Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a body horror duet with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set at a remote rental during a getaway that sours, the film explores what happens when love, envy, and self hatred merge into physical decay. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Though no platform has officially staked a release date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

On the docket is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative anchored by Michael B. Jordan. Framed in sepia richness with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The piece examines American religious trauma via supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Other streamer plays queue softly: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each threads grief and absence and identity, mapping allegory to dread.

Possession Beneath the Skin: Young & Cursed

Posting October 2 across the big platforms, Young & Cursed positions itself as a rare hybrid, intimate in scope and mythic in reach. Authored and directed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the piece tracks five strangers awakening in a remote wilds cabin, under Kyra’s sway, 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 chill is psyche led, anchored in primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this piece touches something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. An inward possession, not an outward spell, turns the trope and sets Young & Cursed inside a widening trend, intimate character work housed in genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It is a calculated bet. No overweight mythology. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. With a spectacle heavy year, Young & Cursed may pop by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. They are more runway than museum.

Fantastic Fest posts a muscular horror lineup this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, a folkloric revenge thriller steeped in Aztec lore, is expected to close the fest with fire.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That one, an A24 backed satire on toxic fandom set during a horror convention lockdown, is poised for breakout status.

SXSW gave air to Clown in a Cornfield and to microbudget hauntings courting buyers. Sundance should deliver grief heavy elevated horror again, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. Badges kick off the sell, they do not merely decorate.

Long Running Lines: Additions, Do Overs, and Revisions

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

Fear Street: Prom Queen hits July to revive the 90s line with fresh lead and VHS vibe. Breaking with earlier shading, it leans camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, 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 first film’s success on both social media and streaming has given Universal the confidence to double down.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, guided by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. With a precise angle, it could mirror The Hunger Games for adults in horror.

Also present, reboots and sequels including Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda, spread through the year, most watching for smart slots or quick buys.

Trends to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
Lilith in Young & Cursed and Aztec curses in Whistle point to ancient texts and symbols. Rather than nostalgia, it reclaims 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 map to heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Originals on platforms bite harder
The days of disposable horror filler on digital platforms are over. Streamers deploy capital toward scripts, directors, and paid reach. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror continues in theaters, in narrower curated lanes.

Season Ahead: Fall pileup, winter curveball

Put Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons into September and October and you get saturation. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Do not be surprised if one or two move to early 2026 or switch platforms.

December holds on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, though a stealth streamer release may land late. When the heavy hitters lean mythic, a last creature feature or exorcism can still fit.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The goal is not Get Out again, it is horror with staying power past opening weekends.



The coming 2026 chiller year to come: installments, non-franchise titles, together with A packed Calendar optimized for jolts

Dek The new genre slate crams up front with a January wave, subsequently unfolds through peak season, and straight through the festive period, fusing name recognition, creative pitches, and calculated counterprogramming. Studio marketers and platforms are doubling down on smart costs, theatrical-first rollouts, and viral-minded pushes that turn horror entries into national conversation.

Where horror stands going into 2026

This space has emerged as the consistent play in distribution calendars, a lane that can break out when it connects and still cushion the floor when it misses. After the 2023 year reassured top brass that cost-conscious shockers can own the zeitgeist, the following year continued the surge with festival-darling auteurs and stealth successes. The momentum translated to 2025, where reawakened brands and elevated films highlighted there is appetite for varied styles, from continued chapters to original features that export nicely. The takeaway for 2026 is a roster that seems notably aligned across the market, with defined corridors, a harmony of household franchises and fresh ideas, and a revived priority on box-office windows that feed downstream value on paid VOD and home platforms.

Marketers add the horror lane now works like a versatile piece on the schedule. The genre can launch on virtually any date, offer a tight logline for spots and social clips, and overperform with crowds that arrive on Thursday nights and stay strong through the next pass if the release works. After a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 plan shows faith in that setup. The slate launches with a busy January run, then primes spring and early summer for genre counterpoints, while clearing room for a autumn stretch that runs into the Halloween frame and beyond. The schedule also reflects the increasing integration of indie distributors and subscription services that can nurture a platform play, build word of mouth, and expand at the strategic time.

A reinforcing pattern is IP cultivation across unified worlds and established properties. Distribution groups are not just mounting another continuation. They are aiming to frame story carry-over with a must-see charge, whether that is a typeface approach that announces a refreshed voice or a casting choice that anchors a fresh chapter to a early run. At the alongside this, the auteurs behind the marquee originals are returning to on-set craft, special makeup and concrete locations. That combination produces the 2026 slate a strong blend of home base and invention, which is a pattern that scales internationally.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount plants an early flag with two marquee pushes that live at opposite ends of the tone spectrum. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director seat and Neve Campbell back at the forefront, positioning the film as both a succession moment and a origin-leaning character study. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the authorial approach signals a legacy-leaning approach without retreading the last two entries’ Carpenter-sisters arc. Anticipate a campaign anchored in classic imagery, early character teases, and a trailer cadence rolling toward late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

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 reuniting, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will spotlight. As a non-tentpole summer option, this one will seek broad awareness through remixable clips, with the horror spoof format allowing quick switches to whatever dominates the conversation that spring.

Universal has three specific bets. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a universe branch from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The conceit is tight, loss-driven, and high-concept: a grieving man sets up an algorithmic mate that escalates into a killer companion. The date puts it at the front of a crowded navigate to this website corridor, with Universal’s promo team likely to echo uncanny live moments and short-form creative that interweaves companionship and unease.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under working titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a title drop to become an teaser payoff closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles stack elsewhere.

Anchoring the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film reserves October 23, 2026, a slot he has thrived in before. His projects are sold as creative events, with a teaser that reveals little and a follow-up trailer set that signal tone without plot the concept. The Halloween-adjacent date lets the studio to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on 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 heads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has proven that a gritty, physical-effects centered method can feel deluxe on a lean spend. Look for a blood-and-grime summer horror charge that maximizes international play, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is notably deep. The studio launches two brand plays in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, holding a trusty supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has reslotted on this title before, but the current plan keeps it in late summer, where the brand has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil restarts in what the studio is presenting as a clean-slate approach 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 charge to serve both loyalists and general audiences. The fall slot allows Sony to build assets around setting detail, and practical creature work, elements that can lift format premiums and community activity.

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 extends Eggers’ run of period horror grounded in careful craft and textual fidelity, this time orbiting lycan myth. The imprint has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can broaden if early reception is strong.

How the platforms plan to play it

Digital strategies for 2026 run on proven patterns. Universal’s genre entries head to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that fortifies both launch urgency and sub growth in the back half. Prime Video blends catalogue additions with global pickups and select theatrical runs when the data supports it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in archive usage, using curated hubs, horror hubs, and handpicked rows to stretch the tail on aggregate take. Netflix retains agility about originals and festival acquisitions, finalizing horror entries toward the drop and eventizing debuts with tight-window plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a two-step of precision theatrical plays and swift platform pivots 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 using community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown appetite to acquire select projects with recognized filmmakers or name-led packages, then give them a qualifying theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to gain imprimatur before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for retention when the genre conversation spikes.

Specialized lanes

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 corridor with two franchise steps. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The sell is tight: the same atmospheric, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, upgraded 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. The distributor has indicated a traditional theatrical plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the brutal series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through a fall festival swing if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to increase reach. That positioning has paid off for arthouse horror with broader reach. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not locked many 2026-specific horror dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines typically coalesce after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A sound expectation is a set of late-summer and fall platformers that can widen if reception encourages. Expect 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 often work in concert, using small theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By volume, the 2026 slate leans toward the brand-heavy side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all capitalize on cultural cachet. The challenge, as ever, is brand erosion. The workable fix is to sell each entry as a new angle. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is centering a French-accented approach from a rising filmmaker. Those choices register 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 framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams in a stranded survival premise with Raimi’s impish dread. SOULM8TE offers a clear, chilling tech hook. Werwulf roots in era detail and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on existing IP, the team and cast is anchored enough to accelerate early sales and Thursday-night crowds.

Comparable trends from recent years contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a theater-first model that kept clean windows did not hamper a parallel release from performing when the brand was compelling. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror hit big in big-format auditoriums. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga made clear that global horror franchises can still feel novel when they change perspective and stretch the story. 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, creates space for marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs this content and to maintain a flow of assets without dead zones.

Production craft signals

The director conversations behind this year’s genre point to a continued move toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that aligns with the practical-first approach he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished filming and is on track for its April 17, 2026 date. Anticipate a rollout that foregrounds unease and texture rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing smart budget discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has said Werwulf as the hardest-edged project he has tackled, which tracks with a feudal backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for textured sound and a austere, elemental atmosphere on the big screen. Focus will likely highlight this aesthetic in feature stories and guild coverage before rolling out a preview that prioritizes vibe over plot, 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 connects worldwide in red-band trailers and spurs shareable audience clips from early screenings. Scream 7 positions a meta pivot that centers its original star. Resident Evil will live or die on creature craft and set design, which play well in fan conventions and controlled asset drops. Insidious tends to be a mix showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the premium-screen pitch feel key. Look for trailers that underscore fine-grain sound, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that land in premium houses.

Release calendar overview

January is heavy. Universal’s 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 atmospheric change-up amid heftier brand moves. The month closes 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 serious, but the variety of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week structure gives each runway for each if word of mouth sticks.

Pre-summer months stage summer. Scream 7 hits February 27 with nostalgia heat. In April, New Line’s The Mummy revives a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now nurtures big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 flows into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer sorts the tones. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 offers ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can play next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest caters to older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have run their PLF course.

Late-season stretch leans series. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously worked. Resident Evil steps in after September 18, a shoulder season window that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will soak up cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely supported by a mystery-driven teaser strategy and limited teasers that stress concept over spoilers.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a flag plant that genre can stand up at Christmas when packaged as auteur prestige horror. The distributor has done this before, platforming with care, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to stay top of mind into January. If the film lands critically, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while enjoying holiday hold and gift-card use.

Embedded title notes

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

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A devastated man’s algorithmic partner mutates into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal 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: Filmed in tandem with the first film. Positioning: prestige survival-horror continuation.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to collide with a changing reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed and U.S. theatrical set. 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 hard-edged boss try to survive on a uninhabited island as the power balance of power turns and dread encroaches. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. 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 TBA in official materials. Logline: A from-today rework that returns the monster to chill, anchored by Cronin’s hands-on craft and slow-bloom dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed. 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 domestic haunting piece that frames the panic through a youth’s wavering perspective. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: completed. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven spectral suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A parody return that pokes at hot-button genre motifs and true-crime obsessions. Rating: TBD. Production: principal photography set for fall 2025. Positioning: broad-lane summer entry.

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

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further reopens, with a new clan snared by long-buried horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: stalwart franchise piece in a friendly frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: to be announced publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to reframe the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survival-core horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active development with set date. Positioning: lore-true modernization with broad upside.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: strategically hidden. Rating: undetermined. Production: ongoing. Positioning: director-branded event with teaser focus.

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 period-specific language and raw menace. Rating: undetermined. Production: in active prep with holiday date set. 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 cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three operational forces organize this lineup. First, production that paused or migrated in 2024 needed slack in the schedule. Horror can move in swiftly because scripts often demand fewer locations, fewer large-scale digital sequences, and compressed 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 dumps. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine turnkey scare beats from test screenings, managed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that power influencer posts. It is a repeatable playbook because it succeeds.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, clearing runway for genre entries that can lead a weekend or operate as the older-skew option. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will cluster across five weekends, which lets WOM accrue cleanly. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can ride the first-half wave of animated and action tentpoles, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Financials, ratings, and sleeper angles

Budgets remain in the comfort zone. Most of the films above will live under the $40–$50 million ceiling, with many far below. That allows for expanded PLF presence 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 search for sleepers continues in Q1, where modest-budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to harvest those lanes. 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. 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.

How the viewing year plays

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a array, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back supernatural punch for date nights and group outings, July runs hard, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a somber, literate nightmare. That is how you sustain conversation and attendance without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to prep the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors value the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, tight deployments, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can command PLF, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing visual texture, acoustics, and cinematography 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 Strong 2026 Horizon

Dates shift. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand gravity where needed, filmmaker vision where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios grasp the timing 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, shape lean trailers, protect the mystery, and let the chills sell the seats.