Reality and fantasy collide in bone-chilling ways in the trailer for Family, the feature debut by writer-director Benjamin Finkel set to bring visceral scares this Halloween season.
Family releases in limited theaters and will be available to rent on most major streaming platforms on September 25, 2026.
In the film, “A 10-year-old girl begins to believe her parents are trying to kill her. Convinced a sinister spirit is to blame, she spirals into a haunting fantasy world that mirrors her deepest fears.”
Cameron Dawson Gray stars as the young girl, Johanna, opposite Ruth Wilson (Victorian Psycho) and Ben Chaplin (Mrs. Davis, Murder By Numbers) as her parents.
It’s a horror story from the child’s perspective as she struggles to navigate her own anxieties and fears over her father’s illness. Finkel drew from personal experience; he began writing this story at 14 after losing his father to cancer.
While that means Family centers on one of horror’s favorite themes, grief, Finkel demonstrates a keen eye for scarecrafting right out of the gate.
Family is scary!
That’s apparent in the trailer and new images below, which delivers plenty of nightmare fuel, especially concerning a terrifying Ruth Wilson.
Family unnerved audiences at its SXSW premiere in 2024. I wrote in my festival review, “What Finkel does remarkably well, though, is crafting visceral scares and bone-chilling imagery with an oppressive, claustrophobic atmosphere. The sound design is skin-crawling and creepy, ensuring every creak and moan the house makes puts you on edge, and that’s before the inhuman whispers and clicks signaling an otherworldly presence.
“Above all, Finkel mines the uncanny valley for maximum terror, tweaking and stretching familiar silhouettes and frames to viscerally disturbing effect.”
That’s certainly reflected in the trailer.
If you’re seeking a good scare this Halloween season, put Family on your watchlists now.
