Antediluvian Terror Rises in Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising thriller, bowing October 2025 across global platforms

One eerie paranormal suspense film from literary architect / cinematic mind Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an forgotten horror when guests become puppets in a hellish conflict. Premiering on October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, Apple iTunes, Apple TV Plus, and Fandango at Home.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a disturbing portrayal of resistance and mythic evil that will redefine the fear genre this autumn. Realized by rising new wave horror talent Andrew Chiaramonte, this claustrophobic and gothic thriller follows five strangers who awaken stranded in a unreachable shack under the menacing rule of Kyra, a female presence occupied by a prehistoric holy text monster. Get ready to be absorbed by a filmic journey that merges visceral dread with mystical narratives, dropping on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on October 2, 2025.


Supernatural inhabitation has been a legendary fixture in screenwriting. In *Young & Cursed*, that framework is radically shifted when the forces no longer manifest outside their bodies, but rather internally. This represents the haunting facet of the group. The result is a riveting identity crisis where the suspense becomes a merciless conflict between right and wrong.


In a bleak terrain, five characters find themselves sealed under the possessive aura and curse of a shadowy being. As the characters becomes paralyzed to evade her command, detached and preyed upon by evils inconceivable, they are obligated to stand before their raw vulnerabilities while the time unceasingly strikes toward their fate.


In *Young & Cursed*, mistrust grows and partnerships implode, coercing each survivor to evaluate their existence and the idea of personal agency itself. The tension surge with every second, delivering a nightmarish journey that merges supernatural terror with soulful exposure.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my objective was to dive into pure dread, an force from prehistory, feeding on inner turmoil, and highlighting a darkness that redefines identity when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Becoming Kyra involved tapping into something more primal than sorrow. She is unseeing until the possession kicks in, and that transformation is gut-wrenching because it is so visceral.”

Viewing Options

*Young & Cursed* will be aired for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, YouTube, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand—so that audiences no matter where they are can get immersed in this haunted release.


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


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


Mark your calendar for this cinematic exploration of dread. Join *Young & Cursed* this launch day to uncover these ghostly lessons about our species.


For bonus footage, behind-the-scenes content, and insider scoops straight from the filmmakers, follow @YoungAndCursedFilm across Facebook and TikTok and visit our spooky domain.





American horror’s pivotal crossroads: the year 2025 U.S. rollouts interlaces primeval-possession lore, independent shockers, set against IP aftershocks

Ranging from endurance-driven terror grounded in biblical myth and extending to installment follow-ups paired with focused festival visions, 2025 appears poised to be the most variegated as well as intentionally scheduled year in years.

It is loaded, and also intentionally sequenced. Major studios hold down the year via recognizable brands, as digital services load up the fall with new voices and mythic dread. On the independent axis, horror’s indie wing is drafting behind the echoes of 2024’s record festival wave. With Halloween holding the peak, the remaining months are slotted with surgical care. A dense September through October runway is now a rite of passage, however this time, bookings reach January, spring, and mid-summer. Audiences are eager, studios are calculated, hence 2025 may end up the most intentional cycle yet.

Studio Playbook and Mini-Major Tactics: Premium genre swings back

The upper tier is moving decisively. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 scales the plan.

Universal’s schedule kicks off the frame with an audacious swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, steering clear of the antique European village, in an immediate now. From director Leigh Whannell and toplined by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this approach fixes the lycanthropy within intimate rupture. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. Booked into mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring brings Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher novel refit as minimal menace. Directed by Eli Craig with Katie Douglas and Kevin Durand, it feels like crimson splashed Midwest menace with winked critique. Behind its clown mask lies commentary on small town paranoia, generational divides, and mob justice. Advance murmurs say it draws blood.

As summer winds down, Warner’s schedule unveils the final movement from its cornerstone horror IP: The Conjuring: Last Rites. The Warrens return, played by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson, the entry offers emotional coda while tackling one of their notorious real cases. Even with a familiar chassis, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It arrives early September, buying space before the October wave.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. From early summer to October, a strong signal. Derrickson re teams, and the defining traits of the first sleeper return: retro dread, trauma as text, plus uncanny supernatural grammar. This time, the stakes are raised, through a thicker read on the “grabber” legend and generational ache.

Completing the calendar is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, an offering that markets itself. The return delves further into myth, adds to the animatronic nightmare bench, reaching teens and game grownups. It books December, stabilizing the winter back end.

Platform Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

With cinemas leaning into known IP, platforms are wagering boldly, and results are there.

A leading ambitious platform entry is Weapons, a forensic chill anthology that weaves together three timelines connected by a mass disappearance. Guided by Zach Cregger and featuring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the entry marries dread with character weight. Rolling out in theaters late summer before fall platform release, it should ignite online discourse and post viewing breakdowns, much like Barbarian.

More contained by design is Together, a two hander body horror spiral starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Set in a remote rental home during a getaway gone wrong, the piece probes how love, envy, and self loathing become bodily rot. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Before a platform date is locked, it looks like a certain fall stream.

Also rising is Sinners, a pre war vampire folk narrative led by Michael B. Jordan. Imaged in sepia bloom and biblical metaphor, it feels like There Will Be Blood fused with Let the Right One In. The narrative analyzes American religious trauma through a ghostly allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Further platform indies wait for their cue: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all work grief and disappearance and identity, choosing meaning over noise.

Possession From Within: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed arrives as a rare marriage, contained in staging yet mythic in effect. Shaped and helmed 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. When darkness comes, Kyra’s power swells, a penetrating force tapping their private fears, soft spots, and remorse.

This fear is psychologically driven, pulsing with primal myth. Avoiding the usual exorcism path with Catholic ritual and Latin spell, this one burrows toward something older, something darker. Lilith is not conjured by ritual, she surfaces through trauma, silence, and human fragility. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home set the film as Halloween counterprogramming versus sequel waves and monster returns. That is a savvy move. No overweight mythology. No brand fatigue. Bare psychological dread, trim and tense, designed for binge and breath patterns. Inside spectacle, Young & Cursed may separate by silence, then rupture.

Festival Born, Buyer Ready

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF continue to incubate the next six to twelve months of horror. And in 2025, they are acting more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate kicks off with tropical body horror and gets Cronenberg Herzog cross talk. Whistle, a folkloric revenge piece in Aztec lore, likely shuts the fest with heat.

Midnight fare like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You rides on craft as well as title. A24’s satire of toxic fandom inside a con lockdown aims at breakout.

SXSW hosted Clown in a Cornfield and sweetened the pot for microbudget haunts. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, with Tribeca’s genre lane skewing urban, social, and surreal.

The festival game increasingly values branding over mere discovery. That wreath is now a starting gun, not the finish.

Heritage Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The legacy slate is stronger, and more deliberate, than in recent years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen brings back the 90s line in July with a new lead and throwback vibe. Rather than prior modes, it goes camp and prom night melodrama. Think tiaras, stage blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 bows late June, poised to elaborate techno horror lore through new players and AI nightmares. The debut’s viral plus streaming heat gives Universal reason to press the bet.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it is a brutal dystopian allegory wrapped in survival horror, a kids walking until they die competition with no real winners. If packaged well, it could track like The Hunger Games for horror adults.

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.

What to Watch

Myth turns mainstream
From Lilith in Young & Cursed across to Aztec curses in Whistle, slates mine ancient texts and symbols. It eschews nostalgia to repossess pre Christian archetypes. Horror exceeds jolts, it insists evil is ancient.

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

Platform originals gain bite
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Platforms invest in real scripts, real directors, and real campaigns. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival buzz converts to leverage
Festival laurels are no longer ornamental, they are leverage for theatrical release, premium placement, and media cycles. Skip festival strategy in 2025 and the film risks invisibility.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
The cinema lane is kept for probable outperformers or branchers. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror remains on big screens, selectively curated.

Outlook: Autumn density and winter pivot

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper will grind for attention. Some may slide to early 2026 or switch platform lanes.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. As several big titles lean dark and mythic, there is room for one last creature feature or exorcism flick.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The mission is not a new Get Out, it is sustained horror beyond tickets.



The oncoming chiller slate: continuations, fresh concepts, together with A jammed Calendar aimed at shocks

Dek The fresh scare slate crams early with a January glut, after that spreads through the warm months, and deep into the winter holidays, fusing IP strength, new voices, and shrewd counterweight. Studios and platforms are betting on right-sized spends, theater-first strategies, and short-form initiatives that shape genre titles into cross-demo moments.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

This space has solidified as the bankable option in annual schedules, a corner that can lift when it catches and still cushion the floor when it misses. After 2023 demonstrated to leaders that efficiently budgeted pictures can steer mainstream conversation, the following year extended the rally with filmmaker-forward plays and sleeper breakouts. The run pushed into 2025, where returns and elevated films proved there is a market for many shades, from continued chapters to original one-offs that export nicely. The combined impact for 2026 is a roster that reads highly synchronized across distributors, with planned clusters, a pairing of brand names and untested plays, and a revived commitment on big-screen windows that power the aftermarket on paid VOD and OTT platforms.

Executives say the genre now works like a schedule utility on the calendar. Horror can launch on a wide range of weekends, create a grabby hook for teasers and platform-native cuts, and outstrip with demo groups that respond on preview nights and hold through the week two if the film works. Emerging from a production delay era, the 2026 layout signals confidence in that setup. The calendar starts with a thick January corridor, then leans on spring and early summer for alternate plays, while leaving room for a fall cadence that extends to late October and into November. The map also shows the increasing integration of arthouse labels and streaming partners that can build gradually, build word of mouth, and broaden at the sweet spot.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across ongoing universes and storied titles. Big banners are not just mounting another chapter. They are working to present continuity with a heightened moment, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a reframed mood or a casting pivot that reconnects a next film to a initial period. At the meanwhile, the directors behind the most watched originals are prioritizing tactile craft, physical gags and concrete locations. That interplay provides the 2026 slate a lively combination of home base and freshness, which is how the genre sells abroad.

Studio by studio strategy signals

Paramount leads early with two marquee entries that straddle tones widely. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the lead and Neve Campbell back at the core, setting it up as both a relay and a back-to-basics character-driven entry. Cameras are rolling in Atlanta, and the directional approach announces a classic-referencing treatment without replaying the last two entries’ sisters thread. Count on a promo wave built on signature symbols, initial cast looks, and a trailer cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is big-screen via Paramount.

Paramount also dusts off 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 contributors for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will double down on. As a counterweight in summer, this one will seek wide buzz through share-ready beats, with the horror spoof format allowing quick pivots to whatever dominates horror talk that spring.

Universal has three defined lanes. SOULM8TE arrives January 9, 2026, a tech-horror spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, heartbroken, and premise-first: a grieving man activates an algorithmic mate that shifts into a fatal companion. The date lines it up at the front of a crowded corridor, with marketing at Universal likely to echo off-kilter promo beats and short reels that interlaces romance and dread.

On May 8, 2026, the studio books an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely rumored as the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The official listing currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which makes room for a proper title to become an PR pop closer to the initial tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles own different weekends.

Capping the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film grabs October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are presented as creative events, with a hinting teaser and a later trailer push that define feel without revealing the concept. The pre-Halloween slot gives the studio room to fill pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then capitalize on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, links with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček heads, with Souheila Yacoub leading. The franchise has made clear that a raw, practical-effects forward method can feel prestige on a controlled budget. Position this as a gore-forward summer horror shock that pushes global traction, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most international markets.

Sony’s horror bench is unusually deep. The studio launches two name-brand pushes in the back half. An untitled Insidious film hits August 21, 2026, keeping a evergreen supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch moves forward. The studio has adjusted timing on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has found success.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what Sony is marketing as a from-the-ground-up reboot 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 focus to serve both fans and curious audiences. The fall slot provides the studio time to build artifacts around environmental design, and monster aesthetics, elements that can lift format premiums and fan-forward engagement.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, plants a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in rigorous craft and period language, this time set against lycan legends. The distributor has already claimed the date for a holiday release, a public confidence in the auteur as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is supportive.

Digital platform strategies

Streaming playbooks in 2026 run on well-known grooves. Universal’s slate window into copyright after a exclusive run then PVOD, a structure that elevates both opening-weekend urgency and sign-up momentum in the later window. Prime Video blends licensed films with international acquisitions and small theatrical windows when the data signals it. Max and Hulu optimize their lanes in catalog discovery, using seasonal hubs, October hubs, and programmed rows to maximize the tail on aggregate take. Netflix keeps optionality about in-house releases and festival grabs, confirming horror entries near their drops and framing as events arrivals with condensed plans. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, uses a tiered of targeted cinema placements and swift platform pivots that drives paid trials from buzz. That will matter for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before relying on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a bespoke basis. The platform has shown a willingness to purchase select projects with top-tier auteurs or star-driven packages, then give them a art-house footprint in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still uses the 20th Century Studios slate, a key factor for platform stickiness when the genre conversation swells.

Indie and specialty outlook

Cineverse is mapping a 2026 arc with two brand plays. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is no-nonsense: the same moody, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult item, updated for modern mix and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a autumn slot, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. The distributor has hinted a wide-to-platform plan for the title, an healthy marker for fans of the nasty series and for exhibitors seeking darker fare in the back half.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, managing the title through the fall circuit if the cut is ready, then using the Christmas corridor to go wider. That positioning has worked well for arthouse horror with wider appeal. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not finalized many 2026 slots in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to converge after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A plausible forecast is a cluster of late-summer and fall platformers that can break out if reception warrants. Look for 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 together, using boutique theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their membership.

Franchise entries versus originals

By weight, the 2026 slate bends toward the known side. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all activate name recognition. The concern, as ever, is diminishing returns. The operating solution is to brand each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and roots in Scream 7, Sony is positioning a fresh ground-up build for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French-inflected take from a hot helmer. Those choices move the needle when the audience has so many options and social sentiment swings fast.

Originals and director-first projects keep the lungs full. Jordan Peele’s October film will be sold as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, puts Rachel McAdams into a stranded survival premise with the director’s playful dread. SOULM8TE offers a lean, creepy tech hook. Werwulf rests on period texture and an uncompromising tone. Even when the title is not based on legacy IP, the package is assuring enough to generate pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Recent comps clarify the plan. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that kept clean windows did not obstruct a parallel release from working when the brand was powerful. In 2024, director-craft horror rose in premium formats. In 2025, a return of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel fresh when they reorient and scale the storytelling. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which presses on January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The twin-shoot approach, with chapters shot back-to-back, allows marketing to thread films through protagonists and motifs and to keep assets alive without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The filmmaking conversations behind the year’s horror suggest a continued shift toward physical, site-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not echo any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the physical-effects bias he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Promo should that leans on tone and tension rather than CG roller-coasters, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership permitting cost management.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has framed Werwulf my review here as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a medieval world and archaic dialect, a combination that can make for wraparound sound and a earthy, elemental chill on the big screen. Focus will likely preview this aesthetic in behind-the-scenes pieces and craft spotlights before rolling out a initial teaser that withholds plot, a move that has worked for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is built for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and generates shareable jump-cut reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 sets up a meta pivot that puts the original star at center. Resident Evil will stand or stumble on monster realization and design, which work nicely for fan conventions and planned releases. Insidious tends to be a audio craft showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the auditorium case feel necessary. Look for trailers that center surgical sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dropouts that play in premium auditoriums.

Release calendar overview

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 somber counterpoint amid heftier brand moves. The month concludes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a stranded thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is legit, but the range of tones makes lanes for each, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth carries.

Late winter and spring stage summer. Scream 7 rolls out February 27 with legacy heat. In April, The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once served genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. Universal’s untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 this contact form leads into summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is playful and broad, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 supplies brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest serves older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

Back half into fall leans recognizable. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously performed. Resident Evil comes after September 18, a pre-October slot that still links to Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event secures October 23 and will command cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely pushed by a minimalist tease strategy and limited previews that stress concept over spoilers.

Prestige-horror at year-end. Werwulf on December 25 is a signal that genre can work in holiday corridor when packaged as auteur prestige horror. Focus has done this before, measured platforming, then leaning on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to extend talk into January. If the film earns with critics, the studio can scale in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and gift-card use.

Film-by-film briefs

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting still being revealed as production advances. Logline: Sidney returns to confront a new Ghostface while the narrative revisits the original film’s DNA. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: heritage pivot with a current edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A loss-struck man’s artificial companion shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Production locked for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy enlarges the frame beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult forms in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Lensed back-to-back with the first film. Positioning: next step of a prestige infection saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man journeys back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a warped reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Completed with U.S. theatrical distribution secured. Positioning: ambience-forward 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 scramble to survive on a rugged island as the power dynamic inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: marquee survival piece from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles in the vault in official materials. Logline: A contemporary retelling that returns the monster to chill, based on Cronin’s physical craft and rising dread. Rating: TBA. Production: Production wrapped. Positioning: classic monster revival with auteur stamp.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A home-set haunting premise that interrogates the fear of a child’s unreliable perspective. Rating: TBA. Production: finished. Positioning: studio-built and marquee-led supernatural mood piece.

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 comic send-up that skewers of-the-moment horror beats and true-crime obsessions. Rating: pending. Production: cameras due to roll fall 2025. Positioning: four-quadrant summer counterplay.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites flares, with an cross-border twist in tone and setting. Rating: not yet rated. Production: cameras rolling in New Zealand. Positioning: intense red-band chapter tailored to PLF.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: undisclosed. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a another family bound to old terrors. Rating: forthcoming. Production: set for summer production targeting late-summer opening. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: unrevealed publicly. Top cast: TBA. Logline: A fresh restart designed to reconstruct the franchise from the ground up, with an tilt toward survival-driven horror over action pyrotechnics. Rating: to be announced. Production: in development with a locked date. Positioning: game-rooted reset with broad potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: undetermined. Production: underway. Positioning: auteur event powered by teasers.

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 language and primordial menace. Rating: TBD. Production: in preproduction for holiday debut. Positioning: holiday prestige play with craft awards upside.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a standard theatrical approach before platforming. Status: date variable, fall window probable.

Why the moment is 2026

Three grounded forces drive this lineup. First, production that hiccuped or re-slotted in 2024 demanded space on the calendar. Horror can bridge those gaps quickly because scripts often use 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 generated more than straight-to-streaming dumps. Third, community talk converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will work shareable moments from test screenings, metered scare clips synced to Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that serve as influencer content. It is a repeatable playbook because it holds up.

A fourth element is the programming calculus. The family and cape slots are lighter early in 2026, making room for genre entries that can take a weekend outright or sit as the slightly older-skewing alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror varieties will coexist across five weekends, which lets each title generate conversation without cannibalizing the others. Summer provides the other window. The send-up tracks alongside early family and action traffic, then the hard-R entry can capitalize on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the sweet spot. Most of the films above will track under the $40–$50 million range, with many far below. That allows for aggressive PLF bookings 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 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 maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first shock over-performer 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. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience cadence through 2026

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a buffet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reanimates a Universal monster, May and June provide a two-hit supernatural combo for date nights and group outings, July gets gnarly, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a shadowed, literate nightmare. That is how you fuel talk and ticketing without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can stack through the year, using earlier releases to warm up the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors appreciate the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, efficient screen counts, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can win premium screens, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, sonics, 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.

2026, Ready To Roar

Release dates move. Ratings change. Casts reconfigure. But the spine of 2026 horror is solid. There is franchise muscle where it helps, auteur intent where it matters, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one near-deadline boutique buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, roll out exact trailers, guard the secrets, and let the screams sell the seats.