Primeval Evil returns: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a hair raising horror feature, bowing Oct 2025 on leading streamers

One eerie spectral suspense story from creator / movie maker Andrew Chiaramonte, summoning an age-old dread when unrelated individuals become tools in a demonic conflict. Premiering this October 2nd, 2025, on Prime Video, video-sharing site YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango on-demand.

Hollywood, CA (August 8th, 2025) – Prepare yourselves for *Young & Cursed*, a frightful tale of struggle and age-old darkness that will reshape fear-driven cinema this scare season. Produced by rising horror auteur Andrew Chiaramonte, this edge-of-your-seat and cinematic cinema piece follows five young adults who suddenly rise sealed in a unreachable hideaway under the aggressive command of Kyra, a female presence claimed by a legendary Old Testament spirit. Be warned to be seized by a narrative presentation that intertwines gut-punch terror with biblical origins, coming on Amazon’s streaming platform, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Diabolic occupation has been a time-honored concept in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that formula is inverted when the malevolences no longer emerge from a different plane, but rather inside them. This mirrors the haunting side of these individuals. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the plotline becomes a unyielding fight between divinity and wickedness.


In a remote terrain, five individuals find themselves trapped under the malicious force and curse of a uncanny female figure. As the ensemble becomes paralyzed to evade her command, detached and tormented by spirits unfathomable, they are confronted to endure their soulful dreads while the final hour ruthlessly strikes toward their obliteration.


In *Young & Cursed*, anxiety intensifies and partnerships collapse, forcing each survivor to examine their existence and the principle of decision-making itself. The risk accelerate with every instant, delivering a nerve-wracking journey that integrates paranormal dread with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to awaken pure dread, an darkness beyond time, emerging via soul-level flaws, and challenging a force that threatens selfhood when autonomy is removed.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Performing as Kyra demanded embodying something rooted in terror. She is unseeing until the curse activates, and that flip is bone-chilling because it is so deep.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for digital release beginning this October 2, on Amazon’s platform, Google’s video hub, Google’s store, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home—providing viewers around the globe can get immersed in this horror showcase.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just unveiled a new video trailer for *Young & Cursed*, debuted to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a sequel to its first trailer, which has collected over a viral response.


In addition to its continental debut, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has made public that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, exporting the fear to fans of fear everywhere.


Be sure to catch this visceral exploration of dread. Experience *Young & Cursed* this fall premiere to confront these unholy truths about human nature.


For director insights, production insights, and promotions from those who lived it, follow @YoungCursedOfficial across your favorite networks and visit the film’s website.





Horror’s inflection point: calendar year 2025 U.S. lineup blends archetypal-possession themes, art-house nightmares, in parallel with legacy-brand quakes

Moving from fight-to-live nightmare stories rooted in ancient scripture and stretching into returning series as well as pointed art-house angles, 2025 appears poised to be the most variegated along with tactically planned year in recent memory.

The 2025 horror calendar is not just busy, it is strategic. Top studios set cornerstones with known properties, while streaming platforms stack the fall with discovery plays alongside ancient terrors. At the same time, the art-house flank is catching the momentum of a peak 2024 circuit. As Halloween remains the genre’s crown jewel, the non-October slots are tuned with exactness. The fall stretch is the proving field, but this year, horror is also claiming January, spring, and even mid-summer. Audiences are leaning in, studios are targeted, hence 2025 may be recorded as the genre’s most deliberate campaign.

Studio Chessboard and Mini-Major Plays: Prestige terror resurfaces

Studios are not on the sidelines. If 2024 planted the seeds, 2025 doubles down.

Universal starts the year with an audacious swing: a newly envisioned Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a clear present-tense world. Guided by Leigh Whannell with Christopher Abbott opposite Julia Garner, this cut welds lycanthropy to home turmoil. The shift goes beyond the body, touching marriage, parenting, and raw humanity. landing in mid January, it supports the push to convert the winter lull using prestige plays, not leftovers.

Spring sees the arrival of Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher translation rendered as pared-down fear. Under Eli Craig with Katie Douglas alongside Kevin Durand, it plays as blood lacquered Americana with satire under the paint. Behind the grin, it unpacks local hysteria, generational chasms, and crowd justice. Festival whispers say it is sharp.

Toward summer’s end, Warner’s schedule sets loose the finale within its surest horror brand: The Conjuring: Last Rites. Farmiga and Wilson return as the Warrens, the movie targets a resonant finish through an infamous case. Despite a known recipe, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It is also positioned early in September, giving it breathing room before the October onslaught.

Then comes The Black Phone 2. Planned for early summer, the October reposition reads assertive. Scott Derrickson returns, and the DNA that clicked last time remains: retro dread, trauma as narrative engine, with ghostly inner logic. The stakes escalate here, through a fuller probe of the “grabber” lore and inherited grief.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a film that does not need traditional marketing to sell tickets. The sophomore entry expands the mythology, builds out the animatronic fear crew, reaching teens and game grownups. It opens in December, cornering year end horror.

Digital Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

As theatricals lean on brands and continuations, streamers are swinging risk forward, and returns look strong.

One of the year’s most ambitious streaming titles is Weapons, a cold-case woven horror suite stitching three periods attached to a mass disappearance. Steered by Zach Cregger with Josh Brolin opposite Julia Garner, the release pairs unease with narrative heft. Opening theatrically late summer ahead of fall SVOD, it will likely trigger thread wars and analysis videos, recalling Barbarian.

On the quieter side is Together, a body horror duet with Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Located in a secluded rental as a trip collapses, the work maps love envy and self hatred onto bodily unraveling. It reads tender, repulsive, and intensely uneasy, a three act churn into codependent hell. Absent a posted platform date, it looks like a certain fall stream.

In the mix sits Sinners, a 1930s vintage vampire folk yarn starring Michael B. Jordan. Photographed in sepia saturation with biblical metaphor, it plays like There Will Be Blood meets Let the Right One In. The work dissects American religious trauma using supernatural allegory. Dry runs call it a headline grabbing streamer.

Extra indies bide their time on platforms: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper all lean on grief, loss, and identity, favoring allegory over fireworks.

Possession Underneath: Young & Cursed

Going live October 2 on major services, Young & Cursed operates as a rare duality, minimal in staging, maximal in myth. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the work follows five strangers rousing in a remote timber cabin, under Kyra’s control, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. As the hours blacken, her hold tightens, an invasive current triggering fears, fissures, and regret.

The horror here is psychological but charged with primal myth. Instead of another exorcism piece centered on Catholic rites or Latin incantations, this one digs into 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 IP hangover. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. Amid spectacle, Young & Cursed can distinguish itself by whispering, then howling.

Festival Origins, Market Outcomes

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF act as proving grounds for the next waves. In 2025, they behave more like launchpads than showcases.

Fantastic Fest fields a robust horror set this year. Primate, a tropical body horror opener, draws comparisons to Cronenberg and Herzog. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. The A24 fueled satire of toxic fandom in a con lockdown has breakout energy.

SXSW premiered Clown in a Cornfield and introduced several microbudget hauntings currently circling deals. Sundance is on track for grief tuned elevated horror, and Tribeca’s genre set plays urban, social, and surreal.

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

Series Horror: Follow Ups, Restarts, and Reframes

The sequel reboot ecosystem reads stronger and more precise.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, set for July, reanimates the 90s series with a new lead and nostalgia tone. In contrast to earlier chapters, it skews camp and prom night melodrama. Picture tiaras, bright red goo, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, geared to push its techno horror story world with added characters and AI made scares. That first run’s social and SVOD traction lets Universal push further.

Next comes The Long Walk, adapting one of Stephen King’s earliest, most harrowing works, helmed by Francis Lawrence, it lands as a ruthless dystopian allegory couched in survival horror, a march where no one wins. If framed properly, it could echo The Hunger Games for adult horror.

Across the board, reboots and sequels such as Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda fill gaps, most looking for tactical dates or fast pickups.

What to Watch

Ancient myth goes wide
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This reads not as nostalgia but as reclaiming pre Christian archetypes. Horror reaches past fear, it states evil is old.

Body horror swings back
Projects including Together, Weapons, and Keeper re center the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation symbolize heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streamers grow fangs
Low grade filler is no longer the platform default. Streamers back real writing, real filmmakers, and genuine marketing. Films like Weapons and Sinners are treated as events, not content.

Festival hype becomes leverage
Festival status acts as leverage for exhibition, placement, and publicity. Without a festival strategy in 2025, a horror film risks vanishing.

Theatrical lanes are trust falls
Studios are only releasing horror theatrically if they believe it will overperform or spin into sequels. The balance slides PVOD or hybrid. Horror keeps theatrical presence, via curation.

Forecast: Autumn overload with a winter wildcard

The combination of Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons across September and October saturates fall. Indies including Bone Lake and Keeper will wrestle for room. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

December anchors on Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, yet a surprise streamer drop could appear in the final weeks. Because major titles skew dark and mythic, a late creature feature or exorcism could slide in.

The success of horror in 2025 hinges less on a single title and more on how a diverse slate reaches a scattered, segmented audience. This year is not about chasing the next Get Out, it is about building horror that lives beyond the box office.



The forthcoming 2026 Horror Year Ahead: follow-ups, new stories, And A brimming Calendar optimized for frights

Dek The incoming genre year builds early with a January traffic jam, thereafter runs through summer corridors, and straight through the holiday frame, balancing brand equity, new concepts, and tactical calendar placement. Distributors with platforms are committing to efficient budgets, theatrical-first rollouts, and buzz-forward plans that position these releases into cross-demo moments.

How the genre looks for 2026

The horror sector has emerged as the surest tool in studio calendars, a corner that can grow when it connects and still protect the downside when it falls short. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for top brass that responsibly budgeted fright engines can shape mainstream conversation, the following year continued the surge with signature-voice projects and sleeper breakouts. The tailwind extended into 2025, where re-entries and filmmaker-prestige bets showed there is space for several lanes, from continued chapters to fresh IP that scale internationally. The net effect for the 2026 slate is a grid that shows rare alignment across the major shops, with purposeful groupings, a mix of marquee IP and first-time concepts, and a re-energized focus on box-office windows that fuel later windows on PVOD and subscription services.

Executives say the horror lane now operates like a wildcard on the calendar. Horror can launch on a wide range of weekends, create a sharp concept for promo reels and short-form placements, and exceed norms with ticket buyers that show up on early shows and return through the next weekend if the movie pays off. In the wake of a strike-affected pipeline, the 2026 rhythm exhibits conviction in that setup. The calendar starts with a heavy January corridor, then taps spring and early summer for off-slot scheduling, while holding room for a fall corridor that connects to holiday-adjacent weekends and into November. The grid also includes the greater integration of specialty distributors and SVOD players that can grow from platform, fuel WOM, and move wide at the proper time.

Another broad trend is IP cultivation across shared IP webs and veteran brands. Major shops are not just making another entry. They are shaping as lore continuity with a premium feel, whether that is a art treatment that flags a re-angled tone or a casting move that binds a next entry to a foundational era. At the simultaneously, the filmmakers behind the most watched originals are returning to material texture, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That pairing hands the 2026 slate a confident blend of known notes and freshness, which is the formula for international play.

Studios and mini-majors: what the big players are doing

Paramount opens strong with two centerpiece projects that span tone from serious to silly. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the center, positioning the film as both a passing of the torch and a return-to-roots character-focused installment. Production is active in Atlanta, and the authorial approach hints at a heritage-honoring mode without retreading the last two entries’ family thread. Expect a marketing push anchored in iconic art, initial cast looks, and a tease cadence arriving in late fall. Distribution is Paramount’s cinema pipeline.

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 paired again, with the Wayans brothers involved in creative roles for the first time since the early 2000s, a selling point the campaign will feature. As a summer relief option, this one will build wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick reframes to whatever defines horror talk that spring.

Universal has three discrete releases. SOULM8TE debuts January 9, 2026, a digital-age offshoot from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The setup is elegant, loss-driven, and big-hook: a grieving man adopts an intelligent companion that grows into a deadly partner. The date positions it at the front of a stacked January, with Universal’s campaign likely to reprise creepy live activations and quick hits that blurs intimacy and anxiety.

On May 8, 2026, the studio sets an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely understood to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The public calendar currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which reserves space for a proper title to become an event moment closer to the early tease. The timing creates a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles take the main frames.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film secures October 23, 2026, a slot he has owned before. His entries are presented as filmmaker events, with a hinting teaser and a subsequent trailers that define feel without revealing the concept. The pre-Halloween slot lets the studio to own pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then pivot to 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 leads, with Souheila Yacoub fronting. The franchise has demonstrated that a gritty, practical-effects forward treatment can feel top-tier on a efficient spend. Frame it as a red-band summer horror blast that leans hard into foreign markets, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most foreign territories.

Sony’s horror bench is loaded. The studio places two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film arrives August 21, 2026, maintaining a bankable supernatural brand in motion while the spin-off branch incubates. Sony has reshuffled on this title before, but the current plan anchors it in late summer, where Insidious has been strong.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil comes back in what the studio is presenting as a new foundation 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 explicit mandate to serve both fans and general audiences. The fall slot gives Sony time to build promo materials around universe detail, and creature builds, elements that can increase premium booking interest and fan-culture participation.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, stakes a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film advances the filmmaker’s run of period horror shaped by careful craft and language, this time exploring werewolf lore. Focus has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a public confidence in Eggers as a specialty play that can build and expand if early reception is warm.

Digital platform strategies

Digital strategies for 2026 run on tested paths. Universal’s slate flow to copyright after a theater window then PVOD, a tiered path that optimizes both my company FOMO and platform bumps in the back half. Prime Video blends licensed films with international acquisitions and limited runs in theaters when the data justifies it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in library engagement, using featured rows, Halloween hubs, and curated strips to maximize the tail on the year’s genre earnings. Netflix keeps options open about internal projects and festival grabs, timing horror entries closer to drop and making event-like debuts with surge campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, operates a tiered of selective theatrical runs and swift platform pivots that converts WOM to subscribers. That will play for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before leaning on community channels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ treats carefully horror on a discrete basis. The platform has exhibited willingness to board select projects with recognized filmmakers or celebrity-led packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards eligibility or to generate social proof before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney domestic still benefits from the 20th Century Studios slate, a meaningful lever for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Indie corridors

Cineverse is steadily assembling a 2026 lane with two brand extensions. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The appeal is clear: the same haunting, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult favorite, retooled for modern sound and image. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has announced a wide-to-platform plan for Legacy, an encouraging sign for fans of the relentless series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the autumn stretch.

Focus will work the auteur lane with Werwulf, piloting the title through festivals in the fall if the cut is ready, then working the December frame to move out. That positioning has paid off for craft-driven horror with mainstream crossovers. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines generally solidify after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A fair assumption is a handful of late-summer and fall platformers that can grow if reception drives. Be ready for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that bows at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in parallel, using small theatrical to ignite evangelism that fuels their subs.

Known brands versus new stories

By weight, 2026 favors the legacy column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all exploit legacy awareness. The risk, as ever, is viewer burnout. The go-to fix is to position each entry as a renewed feel. Paramount is emphasizing character and heritage in Scream 7, Sony is hinting at a new foundation for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is driving a French-tinted vision from a fresh helmer. Those choices matter when the audience has so many options and social sentiment moves quickly.

Originals and director-driven titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be presented as a brand unto itself. Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, sets Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with signature mischievous dread. SOULM8TE offers a simple, unsettling tech hook. Werwulf delivers period specificity and an unyielding tone. Even when the title is not based on known IP, the packaging is familiar enough to convert curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday-night crowds.

The last three-year set frame the strategy. In 2023, a big-screen-first plan that honored streaming windows did not prevent a parallel release from succeeding when the brand was sticky. In 2024, meticulous-craft horror exceeded expectations in premium formats. In 2025, a resurgence of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel alive when they reorient and stretch the story. 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 double feature plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, gives leeway to marketing to interlace chapters through cast and motif and to hold creative in the market without dead zones.

How the films are being made

The behind-the-scenes chatter behind these films indicate a continued turn toward hands-on, location-grounded craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not mirror any recent iteration of the property, a stance that matches the in-camera sensibility he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film finished principal and is headed for its April 17, 2026 date. Watch for a drive that centers tone and tension rather than fireworks, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership allowing budget prudence.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has talked about Werwulf as the most shadowed project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and medieval diction, a combination that can make for layered sound design and a chilly, elemental vibe on the big screen. Focus will likely tease this aesthetic in long-lead features and technical spotlights before rolling out a tone piece that leans on mood over plot, a move that has delivered for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is engineered for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that travels well in red-band trailers and earns shareable reaction videos from early screenings. Scream 7 promises a meta pivot that brings back the core lead. Resident Evil will fly or stall on creature work and production design, which lend themselves to convention activations and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a audio showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the theatrical pitch feel primary. Look for trailers that elevate pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and quiet voids that land in premium houses.

The schedule at a glance

January is loaded. 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 tonal palate cleanser amid macro-brand pushes. The month closes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a island survival chiller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is credible, but the menu of tones affords lanes to each, and the five-week have a peek here structure enables clean play for each if word of mouth carries.

Q1 into Q2 set up the summer. Scream 7 comes February 27 with nostalgia energy. In April, New Line’s The Mummy restores a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once played to genre counterprogramming and now hosts big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 steps 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 comic-leaning and wide, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 unleashes brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is workable. The spoof can win next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest feeds older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have cycled through PLF.

Late summer into fall leans IP. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives Sony a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a bridge slot that still preps for Halloween marketing beats. The Peele event grabs October 23 and will captivate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a shroud-first teaser rhythm and limited teasers that put concept first.

Prestige at year’s end. Werwulf on December 25 is a declaration that genre can live at Christmas when packaged as filmmaker-driven prestige horror. Focus has done this before, deliberate rollout, then turning to critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to ride the cycle into January. If the film hits with critics, the studio can add screens in the first week of 2027 while benefiting from holiday season and holiday card usage.

Project-by-project snapshots

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: legacy reset with a modern edge.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A widowed man’s digital partner unfolds into something lethally affectionate. Rating: TBA. Production: Photography complete for an early-year bow. Positioning: silicon scare with soul.

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 extends the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult surges 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 heads back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to be swallowed by a mutable reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Complete with theatrical path. Positioning: mood-led adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her tough boss scramble to survive on a cut-off island as the power dynamic inverts and paranoia spreads. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped. Positioning: star-led survival piece from a genre icon.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles confidential in official materials. Logline: A renewed vision that returns the monster to fright, anchored by Cronin’s on-set craft and encroaching dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A domestic haunting premise that twists the unease of a child’s mercurial point of view. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: picture-locked. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven supernatural mood piece.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers participating creatively. Logline: {A satire sequel that skewers present-day genre chatter and true-crime obsessions. Rating: to be announced. Production: shoot planned 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 breaks out, with an worldly twist in tone and setting. Rating: pending. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: hard-hitting R entry designed for premium formats.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: The Further unfurls again, with a unlucky family bound to long-buried horrors. Rating: not yet rated. Production: eying a summer shoot for late-summer slot. Positioning: reliable supernatural IP in a date that favors the brand.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: awaiting public disclosure. Top cast: awaiting confirmation. Logline: A ground-up reset designed to re-establish the franchise from the ground up, with an stress on survivalist horror over set-piece spectacle. Rating: not yet rated. Production: dev phase with date secured. Positioning: canon-conscious reboot with mainstream reach.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: TBD. Logline: purposely secretive. Rating: forthcoming. 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 era-faithful speech and bone-deep menace. Rating: pending. Production: gearing up with December 25 frame. Positioning: filmmaker-driven holiday release with craft awards runway.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a theaters-first plan ahead of platforming. Status: schedule in motion, fall targeted.

Why 2026 lands now

Three practical forces structure this lineup. First, production that bottlenecked or rearranged in 2024 needed latitude on the slate. Horror can backfill quickly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale VFX sequences, and tighter schedules. Second, studios have become more structured about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming debuts. Third, social chatter converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will lean on clippable moments from test screenings, controlled scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it performs.

Another factor is the scheduling math. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, freeing space for genre entries that can seize a weekend or play as the older-leaning alternative. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will line up across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The spoof can draft behind animation and action in early summer, then the hard-R entry can make hay in a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Economics and ratings, plus sleeper strategy

Budgets remain in the Goldilocks zone. Most of the films above will sit beneath the $40–$50 million band, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use 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 lower and mid-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 left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

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

From viewer POV, the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers beat and breadth. January is a banquet, February delivers a legacy slasher, April resurrects a Universal monster, May and June provide a back-to-back spirit play for date nights and group outings, July gets visceral, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a austere, literate nightmare. That is how you maintain buzz and butts in seats without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can scale over time, using earlier releases to seed the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors like the spacing. Horror delivers consistent Thursday swells, optimized footprints, 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 tactility, soundcraft, and image-making 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 Looks Exciting

Windows change. Ratings change. Casts rotate. But the spine of 2026 horror is in place. There is brand power where it counts, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios meet the timing for 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 late-breaking specialty acquisition join the party. For now, the job is simple, cut crisp trailers, keep secrets, and let the scares sell the seats.