Horror, namely how it finds its audience, continues to evolve in ways that confound studio executives and in the process prove the durability of the genre. For all the hand-wringing about supposed “horror fatigue” and the persistent urge to bury a genre that’s remained profitable even in (oftentimes especially in) the worst of times, 2024 proved once again that demons and psychos and killer clowns are as popular as they’ve ever been—just not necessarily those that have a big studio label seared into their clammy flesh.

If horror in the 2010s was dominated by aging juggernauts like Paramount and molded by the growing dominance of younger, hipper, genre-focused studios like A24 and Blumhouse, the chaotic 2020s are, fittingly, increasingly being shaped by less predictable players. Damien Leone’s Terrifier 3, distributed by Cineverse, kicked Joker: Folie à Deux to the curb in its first weekend, and now it...