Ancient Evil Surfaces within Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling horror feature, launching October 2025 across global platforms

An terrifying paranormal fear-driven tale from narrative craftsman / filmmaker Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an primeval horror when unfamiliar people become instruments in a demonic ordeal. Going live October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, the YouTube platform, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s TV+ service, and Fandango platform.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing story of endurance and timeless dread that will alter fear-driven cinema this October. Brought to life by rising filmmaking talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this pressure-packed and atmospheric screenplay follows five people who regain consciousness stranded in a off-grid lodge under the dark influence of Kyra, a young woman controlled by a timeless biblical demon. Get ready to be drawn in by a motion picture adventure that merges visceral dread with arcane tradition, releasing on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Demon possession has been a enduring foundation in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that tradition is subverted when the presences no longer originate from an outside force, but rather from their core. This portrays the most hidden corner of every character. The result is a riveting psychological battle where the narrative becomes a unforgiving confrontation between virtue and vice.


In a bleak backcountry, five adults find themselves isolated under the evil aura and grasp of a enigmatic female presence. As the companions becomes unresisting to deny her manipulation, severed and pursued by beings inconceivable, they are obligated to acknowledge their soulful dreads while the deathwatch harrowingly winds toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, distrust surges and connections erode, urging each individual to contemplate their values and the nature of liberty itself. The risk amplify with every tick, delivering a fear-soaked story that blends otherworldly panic with human vulnerability.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to channel elemental fright, an presence beyond recorded history, emerging via fragile psyche, and exposing a presence that peels away humanity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Playing Kyra needed manifesting something beyond human emotion. She is unseeing until the demon emerges, and that turn is haunting because it is so close.”

Debut Info

*Young & Cursed* will be accessible for viewing beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango on-demand—giving streamers globally can enjoy this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just shared a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a response to its intro video, which has garnered over 100,000 views.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has shared that *Young & Cursed* will also be shared across borders, extending the thrill to international horror buffs.


Mark your calendar for this cinematic descent into hell. Confront *Young & Cursed* this horrific release to uncover these dark realities about the soul.


For behind-the-scenes access, director cuts, and updates from the story's source, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across social media and visit our film’s homepage.





Horror’s Turning Point: the year 2025 domestic schedule weaves archetypal-possession themes, signature indie scares, alongside Franchise Rumbles

Spanning survival horror suffused with mythic scripture and stretching into canon extensions as well as surgical indie voices, 2025 is tracking to be the most variegated combined with blueprinted year for the modern era.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Major studios bookend the months through proven series, while OTT services crowd the fall with new voices alongside archetypal fear. On the festival side, the art-house flank is drafting behind the backdraft of 2024’s record festival wave. Because Halloween continues as the prize window, the other windows are mapped with care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, yet in 2025, slates are opening January, spring, and mid-summer. Viewers are primed, studios are methodical, hence 2025 might go down as horror’s most intentional year yet.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: High-craft horror returns

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 laid the groundwork for a horror reinvention, 2025 amplifies the bet.

the Universal banner fires the first shot with a big gambit: a reimagined Wolf Man, not returning to the Gothic European hamlet, but a crisp modern milieu. Led by Leigh Whannell anchored by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The turn is more than creature work, it is about marriage, parenthood, and humanity. targeting mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

In spring, Clown in a Cornfield lands, a YA slasher port tuned to austere horror. Helmed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Early festival buzz suggests it has teeth.

As summer winds down, the Warner Bros. banner delivers the closing chapter from its dependable horror line: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens are back with Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Despite a known recipe, Chaves is guiding toward a solemn, meditative finish. It sits in early September, securing daylight before October saturation.

Arriving later is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson resumes command, and the tone that worked before is intact: retro dread, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. The stakes escalate here, by enlarging the “grabber” map and grief’s lineage.

Rounding out the big ticket releases is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a picture that draws on name power. The new chapter enriches the lore, stretches the animatronic parade, with a bullseye on teens and thirty something nostalgics. It bows in December, securing the winter cap.

Streamer Exclusives: Modest spend, serious shock

While cinemas swing on series strength, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite knitting three time bands around a mass vanishing. Steered by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin with Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. With a late summer theatrical bow and fall streaming drop, it seems set to fuel decode culture and breakdowns, in the Barbarian lane.

Keeping things close quarters is Together, a sealed box body horror arc pairing Alison Brie with Dave Franco. Situated in an out of the way rental during a failed escape, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It toggles from love to slime, a staged slide into codependent hell. Even without a formal platform date, it is destined for a fall landing.

Then there is Sinners, a Depression era vampire folk fable 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 story probes American religious trauma by way of supernatural allegory. Early test screens tag it as a top talked streaming debut.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all mine grief and vanishing and identity, running metaphor first.

Possession, Deeper Than Ever: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed reads as a rare blend, small in footprint yet mythic in spread. Written and helmed by Andrew Chiaramonte, the movie observes five strangers who awaken in an isolated wilderness cabin, controlled by Kyra, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by 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.

Across Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film stands as Halloween counterprogramming to sequel glut and monster revivals. That is a savvy move. No swollen lore. No IP hangover. Straight psychological chill, boxed and tight, aimed at the binge, pause, and pulse habits of streamers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Launchpads, Market Engines

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF remain breeding grounds for what horror looks like six to twelve months later. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror curtain raiser, invites Cronenberg Herzog comp. Whistle, an Aztec lore revenge tale, aims to close with burn.

Midnight offerings such as If I Had Legs I’d Kick You surge on execution beyond the hook. Backed by A24, it skewers toxic fandom amid a convention lockdown, poised to break big.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is expected to unspool its usual crop of grief soaked elevated horror, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festivals in 2025 double as branding machines. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Franchise Horror: Sequels, Reboots, Reinventions

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Bring tiaras, red dye, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 opens late June, set to enlarge techno horror mythology with fresh faces and AI bred menaces. The original’s social and streaming breakout emboldened Universal to double down.

Then there is The Long Walk, an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s earliest and most harrowing works, with Francis Lawrence directing, it functions as a harsh dystopian fable encased in survival horror, a children’s march that ends in death. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

Key Trends

Ancient myth goes wide
From Lilith in Young & Cursed to Aztec curses in Whistle, horror is turning to ancient texts and symbols. It is not nostalgia, it is re owning pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

Body horror swings back
With films like Together, Weapons, and Keeper, horror is going back to the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation are standing in for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming exclusives sharpen their bite
Disposable horror filler days on platforms have passed. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Laurels convert to leverage
Festival seals operate as leverage for distribution lanes and press windows. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The big screen goes to those expected to beat comps or build series. Most others angle PVOD or hybrid. Horror still lives in theaters, more curated than broad.

Near Term Outlook: Fall pileup, winter curveball

A cluster of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons in September and October equals saturation. Indies such as Bone Lake and Keeper must fight for oxygen. Expect one or more to pivot into early 2026 or shift platforms.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 locks December, while a late surprise on a platform remains possible. Since big films lean mythic, a final monster or exorcism play can claim space.

The key is connecting variety to fragmentation, not betting on one piece. The aim is not another Get Out chase, it is durable horror beyond gross.



The coming 2026 Horror season: installments, fresh concepts, And A hectic Calendar calibrated for goosebumps

Dek: The brand-new horror season stacks at the outset with a January cluster, from there unfolds through summer corridors, and far into the December corridor, mixing legacy muscle, new voices, and shrewd release strategy. Studios and platforms are betting on responsible budgets, theater-first strategies, and platform-native promos that pivot these releases into broad-appeal conversations.

The genre’s posture for 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the surest option in studio calendars, a lane that can break out when it connects and still protect the drag when it under-delivers. After 2023 signaled to strategy teams that lean-budget shockers can dominate social chatter, 2024 kept the drumbeat going with filmmaker-forward plays and word-of-mouth wins. The tailwind pushed into 2025, where re-entries and awards-minded projects made clear there is space for many shades, from brand follow-ups to original features that export nicely. The sum for the 2026 slate is a roster that appears tightly organized across the industry, with clear date clusters, a mix of legacy names and untested plays, and a tightened focus on exclusive windows that boost PVOD and platform value on premium home window and digital services.

Distribution heads claim the space now behaves like a fill-in ace on the slate. Horror can kick off on nearly any frame, offer a quick sell for promo reels and UGC-friendly snippets, and exceed norms with viewers that turn out on opening previews and sustain through the second frame if the title delivers. Emerging from a strike-delayed pipeline, the 2026 cadence signals trust in that engine. The slate begins with a crowded January block, then uses spring and early summer for counterprogramming, while reserving space for a late-year stretch that pushes into holiday-adjacent weekends and afterwards. The program also includes the continuing integration of specialty arms and OTT outlets that can develop over weeks, grow buzz, and move wide at the timely point.

A notable top-line trend is brand management across linked properties and legacy franchises. Major shops are not just mounting another entry. They are seeking to position connection with a occasion, whether that is a art treatment that broadcasts a new tone or a casting pivot that connects a next film to a original cycle. At the parallel to that, the creative leads behind the top original plays are doubling down on practical craft, in-camera effects and specific settings. That convergence offers the 2026 slate a vital pairing of recognition and shock, which is why the genre exports well.

Major-player strategies for 2026

Paramount leads early with two marquee bets that sit at tonal extremes. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the front, steering it as both a baton pass and a foundation-forward character-centered film. Principal photography is underway in Atlanta, and the tonal posture telegraphs a nostalgia-forward strategy without replaying the last two entries’ family thread. Plan for a rollout rooted in brand visuals, intro reveals, and a staggered trailer plan timed to late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also reawakens a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are re-teaming, with the Wayans brothers involved on the creative side for the first time since the early 2000s, a headline the campaign will play up. As a summer counter-slot, this one will build four-quadrant chatter through meme-ready spots, with the horror spoof format fitting quick adjustments to whatever leads pop-cultural buzz that spring.

Universal has three discrete entries. SOULM8TE bows January 9, 2026, a tie-in spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is crisp, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man activates an intelligent companion that escalates into a fatal companion. The date locates it at the front of a crowded corridor, with the studio’s marketing likely to echo strange in-person beats and short reels that melds romance and terror.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely taken to be the feature developed under development titles in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which leaves room for a proper title to become an teaser payoff closer to the initial tease. The timing stakes a claim in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Supplementing the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has worked well before. Peele titles are presented as marquee events, with a teaser that reveals little and a second trailer wave that define feel without revealing the concept. The prime October weekend creates space for Universal to take pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then leverage the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, collaborates with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček leads, with Souheila Yacoub at the center. The franchise has made clear that a visceral, prosthetic-heavy mix can feel top-tier on a middle budget. Position this as a splatter summer horror blast that spotlights foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most non-U.S. markets.

Sony’s horror bench is impressively deep. The studio books two series moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, keeping a dependable supernatural brand in the market while the spin-off branch gestates. Sony has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan sets it in late summer, where Insidious has traditionally delivered.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil re-enters in what Sony is positioning as a clean-slate approach for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a core part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a charge to serve both core fans and novices. The fall slot hands Sony window to build campaign pieces around setting detail, and creature effects, elements that can drive premium screens and fandom activation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film sustains the filmmaker’s run of period horror grounded in meticulous craft and historical speech, this time steeped in lycan lore. The label has already staked the slot for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can move wide if early reception is favorable.

Digital platform strategies

Platform windowing in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s releases window into copyright after a theatrical and PVOD run, a ladder that boosts both debut momentum and platform bumps in the tail. Prime Video combines licensed content with world buys and small theatrical windows when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu accent their strengths in library curation, using in-app campaigns, fright rows, and curated strips to prolong the run on the 2026 genre total. Netflix plays opportunist about original films and festival deals, finalizing horror entries near launch and coalescing around premieres with short runway campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of focused cinema runs and speedy platforming that converts WOM to subscribers. That will count for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before pivoting to fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ continues to evaluate horror on a case-by-case basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with acclaimed directors or star-driven packages, then give them a small theatrical footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet award rules or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still leans on the 20th Century Studios slate, a important element for sustained usage when the genre conversation spikes.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is structuring a 2026 sequence with two name-brand moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The angle is clear: the same mist-blanketed, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult hit, retooled for modern sound and cinematography. 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 announced a theatrical rollout for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking adult skew in the late stretch.

Focus will push the auteur angle with Werwulf, escorting the title through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then relying on the December frame to widen. That positioning has shown results for filmmaker-first horror with four-quadrant hopes. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not posted many 2026 dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines regularly gel after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A solid projection is a series of late-summer and fall platformers that can go wider if reception warrants. Be ready 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 together, using small theatrical to stir evangelism that fuels their subs.

Legacy titles versus originals

By proportion, 2026 is weighted toward the series side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate fan equity. The challenge, as ever, is diminishing returns. The practical approach is to position each entry as a recast vibe. Paramount is foregrounding character-first legacy in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a restart at zero for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is embracing a French-tinted vision from a buzzed-about director. Those choices carry weight when the audience has so many options and social sentiment tilts quickly.

Originals and filmmaker-led entries keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, places Rachel McAdams into a crash-survival premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an flinty tone. Even when the title is not based on familiar IP, the assembly is assuring enough to drive advance ticketing and advance-audience nights.

Recent comps contextualize the strategy. In 2023, a theatrical-first model that observed windows did not hamper a dual release from succeeding when the brand was strong. In 2024, auteur craft horror punched above its weight in premium screens. In 2025, a reawakened chapter of a beloved infection saga demonstrated that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they alter lens and widen scale. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which moves forward 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 extended gaps.

How the films are being made

The craft conversations behind 2026 horror telegraph a continued shift toward practical, location-rooted craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not resemble 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 making room for cost precision.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has outlined Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval backdrop and period-accurate language, a combination that can make for deep sound design and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely frame this aesthetic in deep-dive features and technical spotlights before rolling out a preview 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 rubbery nastiness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and spurs shareable shock clips from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a self-referential reset that re-anchors on the original star. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature craft and set design, which align with convention activations and timed asset drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel necessary. Look for trailers that foreground surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and held silences that sing on PLF.

The schedule at a glance

January is busy. 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 brooding contrast amid macro-brand pushes. The month caps with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is serious, but the spread of tones creates a lane for each, and the five-week structure supports a clean run for each if word of mouth spreads.

Post-January through spring set up the summer. Paramount’s Scream 7 comes February 27 with brand energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy resurrects a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once suited genre counterprogramming and now sustains big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 rolls into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer underlines contrasts. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is jokier and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes ferocious intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can connect next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have shuffled through big rooms.

Late summer into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-Halloween slot that still steps into Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event books October 23 and will own cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely augmented by a peekaboo tease plan and limited information drops that trade in concept over detail.

Christmas prestige. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can compete at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker prestige. Focus has done this before, platforming with care, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to linger in conversation into January. If the film clicks critically, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while turning holiday audiences and card redemption.

Title briefs within the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting TBA in phases as production moves. Logline: Sidney returns to re-engage a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s founding notes. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: roots reset with a contemporary edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s digital partner mutates into something seductively lethal. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed principal photography for an early-year bow. Positioning: digital-age horror with pathos.

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 scales the story beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult ascends in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Filmed consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revered infection cycle.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man travels back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to run into a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. 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 hard-edged boss fight to survive on a rugged island as the chain of command inverts and unease intensifies. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. 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 to be revealed in official materials. Logline: A modern reimagining that returns the monster to horror, shaped by Cronin’s practical effects and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Finished. Positioning: legendary monster re-up with auteur hand.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A household haunting piece that leverages the terror of a child’s shaky impressions. Rating: TBD. Production: locked. Positioning: studio-built and celebrity-led supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, check my blog June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers reuniting creatively. Logline: {A comic send-up that needles present-day genre chatter and true-crime manias. Rating: to be announced. Production: lensing scheduled for fall 2025. Positioning: wide-appeal summer alternative.

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 multinational twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: lensing in New Zealand. Positioning: R-rated franchise charge tuned for PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: unrevealed for now. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: The Further extends again, with a fresh family entangled with old terrors. Rating: pending. Production: planning summer shoot for late-summer date. Positioning: consistent franchise performer in a beneficial frame.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBD publicly. Top cast: to be announced. Logline: A new start designed to re-engineer the franchise from the ground up, with an preference for survival-core horror over action spectacle. Rating: TBA. Production: moving through development on a locked slot. Positioning: game-grounded refresh with wider appeal.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: pending. Logline: intentionally withheld. Rating: TBD. Production: active. Positioning: teaser-forward filmmaker happening.

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 antique diction and ancient menace. Rating: pending. Production: actively prepping for a holiday slot. Positioning: auteur prestige horror aimed at holiday corridor with crafts prospects.

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 big-screen run before platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three execution-level forces shape this lineup. First, production that paused or re-sequenced in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often call for fewer locales, fewer large-scale CGI runs, and shorter schedules. Second, studios have become more strict about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently outpaced straight-to-streaming landings. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will capitalize on social-ready stingers from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that seed creator reels. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Programming arithmetic plays a role. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, creating valuable space for genre entries that can own a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four different flavors of horror will cluster across five weekends, which reduces inter-title cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can exploit a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business view: budgets, ratings, sleeper chase

Budgets remain in the target range. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, 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 sleeper-hit hunt continues in Q1, where lean-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 work those windows. January could easily deliver the first sleeper overperformer 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.

What the calendar feels like for audiences

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers flow and breadth. January is a smorgasbord, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects 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 preserve buzz while driving admissions without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can compound over time, using earlier releases to stage the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors endorse the spacing. Horror delivers predictable Thursday surges, efficient placements, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has imp source at least three titles that can deserve premium formats, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing dimensionality, audio design, 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.

2026 Is Well Positioned

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts evolve. But the spine of 2026 horror is set. There is IP strength where it matters, original vision where it matters, 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 late-stage specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, hold the mystery, and let the shocks sell the seats.