A Night of Horror International Film Festival and Midwest Weirdfest run simultaneously March 5–8, 2026 at the Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, bringing an incredible array of the unusual, the frightening, the bizarre, and the extraordinary to fest goers. Following are the official press announcements.
A Night of Horror International Film Festival
A Night of Horror International Film Festival announces its full program for 2026. Taking place for its third year in the USA, the 18th edition of the festival runs March 5-8, 2026 at the Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
The festival’s tradition of championing and screening the best and bloodiest new horror films continues, with another stellar line-up of feature films and shorts from around the world, including multiple premieres.
THE DRIFTLESS, written and directed by Tim Connery, screens as the festival’s opening night feature film, on Thursday, March 5, at 6:30pm. Followed by the opening night party, at the official bar of the fest The Mousetrap Tavern.
“THE DRIFTLESS was a labor of love that has been resonating with audiences on the festival circuit so far, and our next stop couldn’t be more perfect,” says Connery. “Having its Midwest and Driftless Area premiere at A Night of Horror, I mean, you couldn’t ask for a better place for it. I’m from Iowa, so I expect these stories will especially connect with our first Midwestern audience. Hell, “Dotted Lines,” the accursed liquor store in the film, is right next to Eau Claire on the map when Antique Al points to it, so I mean, basically canon. And I promise that sentence will make much more sense when you attend next week. Get ready for an old school anthology that brings the macabre and the strange.”
THE DRIFTLESS is just one of a plethora of amazing feature films and shorts to be showcased at the festival next month.
The feature films screening at the 2026 festival include:
ACOLYTE (dir: Cameron A. Tubbs / USA) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – A man returns home to rural Appalachia to re-connect with the brother he once abandoned. There, he is tormented by the sinister cult he left behind. ACOLYTE draws the audience into a dark spiral, that travels through shocking small town and familial secrets, before accelerating into devastating supernatural revelation,
ADORABLE HUMANS (dir: Anders Jon, Michael Kunov, Kasper Juhl, Michael Panduro / Denmark) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – A couple move to the countryside looking for a new beginning. But a mysterious mirror turns everything inside out. A young care worker agrees to care for a dying man, only to stumble unto secrets that refuse to stay hidden. A musician struggling with writer’s block is haunted by his own muse and a psychologist starts losing her grip on reality following a harrowing accident.Four separate yet interconnected chapters, each of them a contemporary horror-adaptation of a story by Hans Christian Andersen, tell four stories about fate and acceptance, about love and loss. ADORABLE HUMANS is an anthology film made in close collaboration between its four directors, looking to shine a new light on Denmark’s most beloved author and showcase the darker side of Hans Christian Andersen.
CREATURE FEAR (dir: Manny Gumina / USA) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – A starving felon’s descent into madness turns violent after eating diseased venison, unraveling the lives of two musicians in a small Wisconsin town. This potent film was inspired by, and takes its name from, the song “Creature Fear” by Eau Claire’s own indie folk band Bon Iver, and it was shot in the Wisconsin county that notorious serial killer Ed Gein lived and terrorized: Making it a perfect horror film to screen in A Night of Horror’s new home town of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
THE DEMONATRIX (Aurelio Voltaire, Jeff Ferrell / USA) – WISCONSIN PREMIERE – A Mexican priest comes to the aid of his good friend and neighbor, a dominatrix, when she unwittingly summons an incubus demon. Starring Doug Bradley (Hellraiser), Larry Fessenden (Jakob’s Wife, Brooklyn 45), Hannah Fierman (V/H/S, Creepshow) and Nivek Ogre (Repo! The Genetic Opera, Skinny Puppy). Kinky chills and scares abound in this demonic thrill ride, which is sure to satiate the appetite of diabolic cinema lovers.
THE DRIFTLESS (dir: Tim Connery / USA) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – Deep river valleys, tall limestone bluffs sawing through the sky… thousands of years ago, this unique portion of the Midwest escaped the crushing effects of the giant Ice Age glaciers. But with its scenic beauty, this preserved primal landscape also conceals unimaginable terrors. THE DRIFTLESS is a horror film that weaves through four terrifying Midwest tales of the macabre. Guided by a mysterious antique store owner, these stories delve into a Mississippi River cult of masked assassins, a grieving musician’s struggle with a cursed bottle of liquor, a motel pool cleaner’s uncanny ability to retrieve time-altering artifacts, and a woman’s blood-thirsty revenge from beyond the grave. A Night of Horror presents not only the Midwest premiere of this terrifying anthology, but it’s first ever screening in “The Driftless Area”!
INCUBATION (dir: Joshua Land, Victor Fink / USA) – WORLD PREMIERE – In an isolated cabin amidst a devastating pandemic, Helen takes every precaution to protect her children Ethan and Lily. But when a mysterious stranger named Gideon arrives, the family’s fragile reality shatters. As secrets unravel and a deadly confrontation ensues, Ethan must make a harrowing choice to protect his sister and mother. A shocking and brutal new addition to the home invasion sub-genre, from fest alumni Joshua Land and Victor Fink (BAD WITCH)
LILY’S RITUAL (dir: Manu Herrera / Spain) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – Autumn Equinox, late 20th century. Four friends travel to an isolated house deep in the forest to perform a witchcraft initiation ritual and complete the circle of the four elements.Lily, a pale and introverted twenty-something who has just joined the group, has been chosen to represent the element of air. But what begins as a white witchcraft ritual in harmony with nature soon turns into a diabolical nightmare. A blood-drenched, sumptuous, and terrifying nightmare, which is a stunning and major addition to Spain’s long history of Fantaterror cinema.
THE KIRLIAN FREQUENCY (dir: Cristian Ponce / Argentina) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – A small town is tormented by a radio show that reports horrible stories, terrifying the locals. Many even believe that it is the radio itself that causes these events. One of the guests of tonight’s broadcast will try to obtain this power for himself… A mesmerizing descent into paranormal paranoia, driven by an interplay of gorgeous animation and atmospheric live action.
ON GALLOWS HILL (dir: Ed Shimborske / USA) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – After college screw-up Matt Bishop is bitten by a vampire, he discovers he can only survive on one thing: his own rare blood type. As his thirst grows, Matt descends into a coven underworld, rekindles an old flame, and uncovers the dark secrets of the blood business- forcing him to confront his own morality (and mortality) to stay alive. Told with practical FX, animation, and a dash of psychedelic surrealism, On Gallows Hill is a fever-dream exploration of identity, loneliness, and the existential horror of feeling lost in your 20s, made by a group of college kids in the Midwest.
SHADOWLAND (dir: Otso Tiainen / Finland) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – In a remote valley of the Pyrenees, where magic and ancient mysticism weave through daily life, seekers from around the world arrive to escape their pasts and seek rebirth through an occult-tinged faith. Among them is Richard Stanley (COLOR OUT OF SPACE, DUST DEVIL, HARDWARE), a once-celebrated filmmaker, turned spiritual leader after a dramatic fall from Hollywood. When allegations of domestic abuse come to light, his admirers must confront reality. Is the region truly transformative, or have they been manipulated by a false prophet? SHADOWLAND is documentary filmmaker Otso Tiainen’s haunting exploration of belief, escapism, and the quiet power of spiritual manipulation: Stunning, twisting, disturbing, and resonating.
THE PHILIP EXPERIMENT (dir. Thomas Eliot / USA) – WORLD PREMIERE – Inspired by a parapsychology experiment from 1972, a team of paranormal researchers led by an unscrupulous documentary filmmaker try to summon the ghost of a fictional character. This found footage gem blurs the lines between real paranormal history and edge-of-your-seat terror. (Our featured image from this article is from THE PHILIP EXPERIMENT.)
THE RED MASK (dir: Ritesh Gupta / USA) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – When outspoken queer screenwriter ALLINA GREEN (Helena Howard) is chosen to pen the final installment of the legendary slasher franchise THE RED MASK, anger, outrage, and online death threats from die-hard fans causes a rift in her relationship with reticent fiancé DEETZ (Inanna Sarkis). Desperate for a creative breakthrough, the pair escape to a secluded Airbnb, where Allina concocts a DANGEROUS GAME for the two to play to unlock her writer’s block. But when two uninvited house guests crash the scene, (Kelli Garner and Jake Abel) the weekend turns dark and a twisted game devolves into a duel to the death. A Night of Horror is delighted to present THE RED MASK as its closing night film for 2026. Followed by the after party at The Mousetrap Tavern, the official bar of the festival.
SUNSET STRIP KILLERS (dir. Chad Ferrin / USA) – WORLD PREMIERE – From prolific modern master of horror exploitation, Chad Ferrin (THE CHAIR, DEEP ONES, ED KEMPER), comes this vicious true crime stunner. Los Angeles, 1980. Beneath the glittering lights of the Sunset Strip, a horrifying tale of obsession and bloodshed unfolds. Carol Bundy, a lonely nurse, crosses paths with Doug Clark, a charming but dangerously unstable man. Drawn into his web of deceit and depravity, Carol’s quiet existence spirals into a nightmare she never imagined.
WE PUT THE WORLD TO SLEEP (dir. Adrian Tofei / Romania, Turkey) – WISCONSIN PREMIERE – The highly anticipated, genre-bending film, from cult director Adrian Tofei (BE MY CAT: A FILM FOR ANNE) and Duru Yücel. Part reality-bending sci-fi, part chilling horror, part domestic drama, this film masterfully subverts and surpasses the conventional tropes of found footage. Adrian and Duru get lost in the characters they play in an apocalyptic film and embark on a secret mission to end the world for real. What follows goes beyond their wildest imagination.
A Night of Horror’s full 2026 program and schedule can be viewed here:
https://www.anightofhorror.com/2026-program
Tickets to all films, along with discounted festival passes, are available to purchase here:
https://www.anightofhorror.com/tickets
Midwest Weirdfest
The 10th annual MidWest WeirdFest – a cinematic celebration of all things fantastic, frightening, paranormal, and just plain weird, takes place March 5-8, 2026 at the Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
The fest’s fantastic line-up of horror, sci-fi, underground, paranormal, and documentary cinema showcases 16 feature films, and almost 70 shorts; including world premieres of four feature films.
One of the films that is world premiering at the festival is the terrifying and claustrophobic home invasion shocker INCUBATION.
“We couldn’t think of a better place to premiere our movie, INCUBATION, than MidWest WeirdFest”, says Joshua Land who wrote and directed the film with his longtime producing partner Victor Fink. “In 2020, we launched our feature film, BAD WITCH, at MidWest WeirdFest. When we got back home, the entire world shut down. Naturally, it seems only fitting that our new film about a fictional pandemic and a family locked in their isolated cabin in the woods infects the screen here six years later. Of course, we hope the return trip goes better this time. MidWest WeirdFest is such a unique, special, community-focused festival, and it means the world to us to be able to be included once again. Festival director Dean Bertram has created such a wonderful, closely knit, supportive community of filmmakers and audiences. It’s truly an honor to finally unleash the product of years of ‘blood, sweat, and tears’ in such an incredible place. Let’s keep it weird!”
The feature films screening at the 10th annual festival include:
THE DEMONATRIX (Aurelio Voltaire, Jeff Ferrell / USA) – WISCONSIN PREMIERE – A Mexican priest comes to the aid of his good friend and neighbor, a dominatrix, when she unwittingly summons an incubus demon. Starring Doug Bradley (Hellraiser), Larry Fessenden (Jakob’s Wife, Brooklyn 45), Hannah Fierman (V/H/S, Creepshow) and Nivek Ogre (Repo! The Genetic Opera, Skinny Puppy). Kinky chills and scares abound in this demonic thrill ride, which is sure to satiate the appetite of diabolic cinema lovers.
THE DRIFTLESS (dir: Tim Connery / USA) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – Deep river valleys, tall limestone bluffs sawing through the sky… thousands of years ago, this unique portion of the Midwest escaped the crushing effects of the giant Ice Age glaciers. But with its scenic beauty, this preserved primal landscape also conceals unimaginable terrors. THE DRIFTLESS is a horror film that weaves through four terrifying Midwest tales of the macabre. Guided by a mysterious antique store owner, these stories delve into a Mississippi River cult of masked assassins, a grieving musician’s struggle with a cursed bottle of liquor, a motel pool cleaner’s uncanny ability to retrieve time-altering artifacts, and a woman’s blood-thirsty revenge from beyond the grave. MidWest WeirdFest presents not only the Midwest premiere of this terrifying anthology, but it’s first ever screening in “The Driftless Area”!
THE HEDONIST (dir. Nick Funess) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – Reed’s monotonous days lead to a meltdown at his dead-end job. He bails and heads to his parents’ place in Arizona, spending his days floating in the pool while his parents persuade him to get back on track. Reed comes up with a wild plan instead. He hires an escort, Tess, to take care of him for a week. Debauchery and buffoonery ensue as Tess joins Reed on his journey to nowhere fast. Confronting, and uncomfortably hilarious, THE HEDONIST marks director/star Nick Funess as a major new talent of American cinema.
THE HOLE STORY: (dir. Elijah Sullivan) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – The discovery of a sixty-foot man-made hole on a California mountain implicates a small town’s unusual local industry in a bizarre unsolved crime. Abandoning the conventional investigative format, THE HOLE STORY unfolds as a multi-faceted oral history, immersing us in personal mythologies and painting a haunting and unsettling portrait of a community shaped by fringe belief. A captivating documentary that draws you into a deep and unsettling mystery.
INCUBATION (dir: Joshua Land, Victor Fink) – WORLD PREMIERE – In an isolated cabin amidst a devastating pandemic, Helen takes every precaution to protect her children Ethan and Lily. But when a mysterious stranger named Gideon arrives, the family’s fragile reality shatters. As secrets unravel and a deadly confrontation ensues, Ethan must make a harrowing choice to protect his sister and mother. A shocking and brutal new addition to the home invasion sub-genre, from fest alumni Joshua Land and Victor Fink (BAD WITCH).
I’VE SEEN ALL I NEED TO SEE (dir: Zeshaan Younus) – WISCONSIN PREMIERE – Two sisters are separated by the expanse of death. Parker, an actor in Los Angeles, returns to her hometown in search of answers after the sudden and violent loss of her estranged sister, Indiana. Told through a non-linear and haunting lens, I’VE SEEN ALL I NEED TO SEE is equal parts ghost story and noir. It looks at the gaps in space, time, and judgment that are created when attempting to move on from personal tragedy.
THE MID-NIGHT DRIVER (dir: Alex Cherney) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – When a young girl summons a driver using a seemingly innocent ritual, she must fulfill his demands if she ever wants to get back home in 1992 Long Island. A taught, atmospheric, descent into paranormal paranoia; THE MID-NIGHT DRIVER is one of the freshest and most captivating horror films of the decade. Do not miss it’s 2nd ever screening, only at MidWest WeirdFest.
PEEPING TODD (dir: Josh Munds) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – When his peeping passions become compromised, Todd decides he’ll do whatever it takes to continue stalking his beloved Claire. An obsessive HOA fleet and a dense boyfriend are obstacles Todd must dance around if he wants to sing his way into Claire’s heart. As Claire gets wrapped up in the lies of her fiancé and the web of her stalker, she must escape the two most toxic relationships she’s ever faced. Disturbing, toe-tapping fun, this gloriously deranged musical has to be seen (and heard) to be believed.
PERSONHOOD (dir: Richard Jordan) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – In a near-future world, a lonely, physically challenged man purchases a companion robot to escape his isolation. But his own insecurities and a jealous brother threaten his chances of ever finding love. PERSONHOOD captivates the viewer, drawing us into a story which becomes increasingly difficult to watch, but hooks so deep that one is unable to look away. A lo-fi sci-fi masterpiece.
THE PHILIP EXPERIMENT (dir. Thomas Eliot) – WORLD PREMIERE – Inspired by a parapsychology experiment from 1972, a team of paranormal researchers led by an unscrupulous documentary filmmaker try to summon the ghost of a fictional character. This found footage gem blurs the lines between real paranormal history and edge-of-your-seat terror.
PSYCHOPOMP (dir: Jeremy Sher ) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – A young man steals a Hearst from a funeral home. Soon after, he narrowly escapes a run in with locals at a dive bar, and picks up a female hitch hiker in the process, who joins him on his mission. PSYCHOPOMP has the makings of a mumblecore classic; resonates with the type of weird cool of an early Hal Hartley film; and is steeped in the spirit of early 90s American indie cinema.
THE RULES OF ATTRACTION (dir: Roger Avery) – MEMORIAL SCREENING – A special retrospective screening to commemorate the life of the film’s departed star James Van Der Beek. Since it’s release in 2002, THE RULES OF ATTRACTION, has been all but forgotten by the mainstream. Often misunderstood, and almost never given the attention it deserves, it is an incredible film: Hilarious, disturbing, poignant, and as much a snapshot of late 90s early 2000s misplaced machismo as the much better known FIGHT CLUB. This dark satire of nihilistic college life – masterfully directed by Roger Avary (PULP FICTION) and based on the novel by best-selling and infamous author Bret Easton Ellis (AMERICAN PSYCHO) – features one of Van Der Beek’s best and most memorable performances.
SUNSET STRIP KILLERS (dir. Chad Ferrin) – WORLD PREMIERE – From prolific modern master of horror exploitation, Chad Ferrin (THE CHAIR, DEEP ONES, ED KEMPER), comes this vicious true crime stunner. Los Angeles, 1980. Beneath the glittering lights of the Sunset Strip, a horrifying tale of obsession and bloodshed unfolds. Carol Bundy, a lonely nurse, crosses paths with Doug Clark, a charming but dangerously unstable man. Drawn into his web of deceit and depravity, Carol’s quiet existence spirals into a nightmare she never imagined.
VARIATIONS ON VIOLENCE (dir: Zachary Nichols) – WORLD PREMIERE – A traumatized military drone pilot and his sister are bound together through childhood abandonment, scraping by in a dead-end rural town. Through tragedy, the film’s reality shifts into an abstract afterlife, where personal guilt is stripped of its human scale and dissolves into something vast and impersonal. This is a masterful and breathtaking feature directorial debut. Nichols was a collaborator with David Lynch, and fans of the late auteur will feel Lynch’s presence resonate in some sequences.
WAKING STATE (dir: Andrew Salerno) – MIDWEST PREMIERE – After watching a top secret videotape, a small town law clerk must track down the tape’s origin and its connection to a deeper conspiracy. An artfully crafted and compelling thriller, riffing on the great conspiracy movies and shows of the past – from the 70s films of Alan J. Pakula through THE X-FILES and THE LONE GUNMEN – but with a contemporary, and indie, edge.
WE PUT THE WORLD TO SLEEP (dir. Adrian Tofei) – WISCONSIN PREMIERE – The highly anticipated, genre-bending film, from cult director Adrian Tofei (BE MY CAT: A FILM FOR ANNE) and Duru Yücel. Part reality-bending sci-fi, part chilling horror, part domestic drama, this film masterfully subverts and surpasses the conventional tropes of found footage. Adrian and Duru get lost in the characters they play in an apocalyptic film and embark on a secret mission to end the world for real. What follows goes beyond their wildest imagination.
MidWest WeirdFest’s full 2026 program and schedule can be viewed here: https://www.midwestweirdfest.com/program
Tickets to all films, along with discounted festival passes, are available to purchase here: https://www.midwestweirdfest.com/tickets
