CategoryFilm Festivals
Horror film festivals worldwide — lineups, awards and the titles that break out of the festival circuit.
817 stories
Film FestivalsFrom the CryptMoviesNews
Hammer Film Productions, the legendary studio that defined classic gothic horror, is back to unleash a fresh wave of cinematic dread upon audiences. Presenting a chilling new entry in survival horror, Hammer announces Ithaqua. The haunting thriller is set to make its World Premiere at FrightFest London on Saturday, August 29, 2026. The iconic studio continues its long-standing legacy of bringing deeply atmospheric, monster-driven folklore to the forefront of modern genre cinema. A Brutal Winter Unleashes an Ancient Wilderness Evil Set against the unforgiving backdrop of the Canadian wilderness during the final collapse of the fur trade, Ithaqua plunges viewers into a nightmare of isolation and psychological collapse. A remote Indigenous settlement suddenly falls silent. The panicked inhabitants of Fort William hire Cole Franklin, an American mercenary haunted by his own dark past. His mission is to trek into the frozen wasteland and investigate. However, what Cole uncovers is a scene of unimaginable slaughter. Soon, he comes to a sickening
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Once again, our coverage of Bucheon International Film Festival (BIFAN) reviews is cowritten by Film Festival Editor Joseph Perry and Guest Contributing Writer Chris Weatherspoon. A man of the world, guest reviewer Chris Weatherspoon has lived in South Korea for “quite a bit.” A huge fan of all cinema, Chris also works locally in the entertainment industry, and knows what he is talking about . . . alright!? Focus (South Korea, 2026); review by Chris Weatherspoon Director Sim Gyu-ho’s Focus is a slowly unraveling ghost story about a man who can’t stop looking through a lens even when it’s costing him everything in front of it. The film opens on a campsite, where photographer Kim Eun-ho and his girlfriend Woo-jung are settling in for the night; a walk to borrow salt turns into something stranger, something the film wisely doesn’t explain. After the opening sequence, we learn that Eun-ho is a struggling photographer who has been with the same girlfriend,
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesNews
In a secluded village where grief hangs heavier than chimney smoke, a family home is suddenly consumed by fire. And no two neighbors can agree on how the blaze started. An Award-Winning Film Following its win of both the Golden Audience Award and Special Jury Award at the Fantasia Film Festival, Radik Ashimov’s psychological horror Burning is coming to Digital this Fall. A Fiery Mystery A young couple has just buried their firstborn son. In the heartbreaking weeks following the tragedy, the grieving mother wanders from door to door, pleading for a kind of help no one seems to understand, before vanishing entirely into the dense trees at the forest’s edge. Soon after, the father’s mother arrives, uninvited, unexplained, and deeply unsettling. Then, under the cover of night, the family home erupts into flames. What actually happened inside those walls stays inside—except for the fragmented stories circulating among the locals. Gathered at the village shop, three witnesses trade erratic pieces
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsGamingMovies
Known globally for her voice work across major video game and film franchises, including Five Nights at Freddy’s, VALORANT, and Battlefield, actress Marta Svetek is taking center stage in the British survival horror feature Savage Prey. The independent thriller celebrates its World Premiere at the Popcorn Frights Film Festival on August 9. Audiences across the United States can stream the film virtually on demand for 48 hours. Svetek doesn’t just star as the main protagonist, Ava; she also served as Executive Producer, contributed to voice direction, and assisted with post-production. This makes her one of the key creative forces behind the project. Written, directed, and edited by David Ryan Keith, Savage Prey was filmed entirely in the breathtaking Scottish Highlands. It delivers an intense, character-driven story that blends deep emotional roots with relentless, isolated suspense. Ahead of the premiere, Svetek sat down to discuss the grueling Highland shoot, pulling trees out of roads, and why human craftsmanship still reigns supreme
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesNewsThrillerTrailers
If you thought Weekend at Bernie’s was too lighthearted and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre didn’t have enough fashion photography, then VVomb Studio has cooked up something uniquely disturbing just for you. The trailer for the new psychosexual thriller Electric Meat has officially dropped ahead of its world premiere at Tubi FrightFest on August 28. Directed by comic book visionary Dan Schaffer (The Scribbler, Doghouse), this film is shaping up to be the year’s most uncomfortable watch. A Butcher With a Bad Case of “Artist’s Block” The story follows a photographer who pays the bills working as a local butcher. When he discovers one of his favorite models murdered in an alleyway, he doesn’t call the police. Instead, he leans into his day job’s unique skill set and decides to keep her around as his new “muse.” But here’s the kicker: he becomes convinced that she’s caught in a state of quantum undead-ness—sort of like Schrödinger’s corpse. She’s both alive
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Unholy Night (Canada, 2026) Official Synopsis Gino’s traditional family Christmas Eve turns into a bloody battle for survival when his long-dead grandma drops by and goes on a murderous rampage. Amid the chaos, Gino reunites with his ex and the dysfunctional duo must avoid his dead Italian relatives popping up all around the neighbourhood as they search for a way to get rid of these Yuletide revenants and survive his family Christmas. Review Unholy Night is a horror comedy with heart. Squabbles between the Italian family members on Christmas Eve and the problems that arise when relatives return from the dead drive the comedy elements winningly. Director Michael Gabriele balances the humor and the horror nicely, along with relationship and family drama. The ensemble cast members all give solid performances, and the makeup for the revenants is satisfyingly creepy. These living dead can speak, cook, and move around well, and can sometimes be calmed down when they become aggressive enough
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Official Fantasia synopsis from program notes written by Vincenzo Nappi After learning of an evil rock ’n’ roll music promoter’s plan to use heavy metal as a means of enforcing society’s cyclical self-destructive nature and to keep individuals from true self-realization, a metallic-skinned and incredibly well-dressed alien beams down to earth to try to save humanity. However, as his presence attracts the attention of private investigators and corrupt police forces, the stranger must fight to keep society from reaching its hedonistic end. Review Devotees of genre-film musicals that combine horror and science fiction elements with rock and roll are bound to get a kick out of Canadian International Pictures’ terrific new 4K restoration of director Tibor Takács’ 1978 Canadian feature Metal Messiah. Written by Stephen Zoller and based on his play, the film is a gritty journey from the mind of noirish detective Philip Chandler (Richard Ward Allen) to the streets and rock clubs of late seventies Toronto, to places
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews
Canadian indie directors Brett and Jason Butler are hopping across the pond this August for the World Premiere of their dark satire, STARSUCKERS. And it’s arriving at Tubi FrightFest 2026, the UK’s undisputed holy grail of genre cinema. Want to watch influencers and elite celebrity culture get dismantled in the most chaotic way possible? The Butler Brothers have you covered. Never Meet Your Idols Chuck and Eileen are an ordinary couple. They win a dream weekend getaway with ultra-glamorous celebrity icons Bjorg Everglow and Sasha Nightshade. Naturally, the “dream escape” rapidly degenerates into psychological warfare, manipulation, and casual murder as the famous duo reveals their deeply unhinged true intentions. STARSUCKERS skewers our cultural obsession with clout, status, and the desperate urge to live someone else’s highlight reel—proving that fame isn’t just toxic, it’s deadly. The film stars Manon Ens-Lapointe (The Last Anniversary) and Steven Hobé (How Disney Built America). Rising talents James Alex, Jersey Anderson, and Jacob Stickles join the
Continue reading →
AdaptationBooksEventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNewsTrailers
Writer-director Chris Schwab (Heretic) has unveiled the trailer for his new feature Dracula: The Night Around Us. The film is a modern spin on Bram Stoker’s timeless horror masterpiece that proves you can never truly keep a good vampire down. Fresh off winning the Goule D’Or Award for Best Feature Film at the Portland Horror Film Festival, Dracula: The Night Around Us is now officially bound for London. It will celebrate its UK Premiere at Tubi FrightFest on August 30th as part of the Discovery Screen One lineup. “Dracula is a timeless story, and we’re thrilled to have been able to put a unique spin on one of cinema’s most iconic horrors,” says Schwab. “We can’t wait for London audiences to see what we’ve created.” Sewer-Dwelling Terror The dark reimagining centers on Dr. John Seward. He’s a depressed doctor working at an asylum for the criminally insane. However, he finds a rare glimmer of hope after bonding with his new
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Official Synopsis It’s the summer of 1998 in New York City; Sayo (Jeff Wahlberg, EUPHORIA), a soulful nightlife photographer and small-time drug dealer, is invited to a party upstate by his long-time friend and unrequited love, a movie star on the rise: Vince Marlowe (Brodie Townsend, HEARTBREAK HIGH). Together with their rowdy friend Ross (Michael Vlamis, POOLS), they drive to a remote, bucolic manor in hopes of some summer debauchery. But when they arrive, they discover that the promise of a party is actually three mysterious women – Billie (Lily Cowles, ANTEBELLUM), Wren (Nuha Jes Izman, YELLOWJACKETS) and Cata (Ching Valdes-Aran, THE EQUALIZER) – whose disturbing agenda draws the boys into a dark web of seduction and terror. Review Director Corrin Evans crafts an intriguing fear-fare feature rooted in 1990s club and art culture with Corpus. Evans and cowriter Lily Cowles — who also stars as a renowned photographer — set the discomfiting tone of the film from the opening
Continue reading →
More from Film Festivals
Film FestivalsFrom the CryptMoviesNews
Hammer Film Productions, the legendary studio that defined classic gothic horror, is back to unleash a fresh wave of cinematic dread upon audiences. Presenting a chilling new entry in survival horror, Hammer announces Ithaqua. The haunting thriller is set to make its World Premiere at FrightFest London on Saturday, August 29, 2026. The iconic studio continues its long-standing legacy of bringing deeply atmospheric, monster-driven folklore to the forefront of modern genre cinema. A Brutal Winter Unleashes an Ancient Wilderness Evil Set against the unforgiving backdrop of the Canadian wilderness during the final collapse of the fur trade, Ithaqua plunges viewers into a nightmare of isolation and psychological collapse. A remote Indigenous settlement suddenly falls silent. The panicked inhabitants of Fort William hire Cole Franklin, an American mercenary haunted by his own dark past. His mission is to trek into the frozen wasteland and investigate. However, what Cole uncovers is a scene of unimaginable slaughter. Soon, he comes to a sickening
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Once again, our coverage of Bucheon International Film Festival (BIFAN) reviews is cowritten by Film Festival Editor Joseph Perry and Guest Contributing Writer Chris Weatherspoon. A man of the world, guest reviewer Chris Weatherspoon has lived in South Korea for “quite a bit.” A huge fan of all cinema, Chris also works locally in the entertainment industry, and knows what he is talking about . . . alright!? Focus (South Korea, 2026); review by Chris Weatherspoon Director Sim Gyu-ho’s Focus is a slowly unraveling ghost story about a man who can’t stop looking through a lens even when it’s costing him everything in front of it. The film opens on a campsite, where photographer Kim Eun-ho and his girlfriend Woo-jung are settling in for the night; a walk to borrow salt turns into something stranger, something the film wisely doesn’t explain. After the opening sequence, we learn that Eun-ho is a struggling photographer who has been with the same girlfriend,
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesNews
In a secluded village where grief hangs heavier than chimney smoke, a family home is suddenly consumed by fire. And no two neighbors can agree on how the blaze started. An Award-Winning Film Following its win of both the Golden Audience Award and Special Jury Award at the Fantasia Film Festival, Radik Ashimov’s psychological horror Burning is coming to Digital this Fall. A Fiery Mystery A young couple has just buried their firstborn son. In the heartbreaking weeks following the tragedy, the grieving mother wanders from door to door, pleading for a kind of help no one seems to understand, before vanishing entirely into the dense trees at the forest’s edge. Soon after, the father’s mother arrives, uninvited, unexplained, and deeply unsettling. Then, under the cover of night, the family home erupts into flames. What actually happened inside those walls stays inside—except for the fragmented stories circulating among the locals. Gathered at the village shop, three witnesses trade erratic pieces
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsGamingMovies
Known globally for her voice work across major video game and film franchises, including Five Nights at Freddy’s, VALORANT, and Battlefield, actress Marta Svetek is taking center stage in the British survival horror feature Savage Prey. The independent thriller celebrates its World Premiere at the Popcorn Frights Film Festival on August 9. Audiences across the United States can stream the film virtually on demand for 48 hours. Svetek doesn’t just star as the main protagonist, Ava; she also served as Executive Producer, contributed to voice direction, and assisted with post-production. This makes her one of the key creative forces behind the project. Written, directed, and edited by David Ryan Keith, Savage Prey was filmed entirely in the breathtaking Scottish Highlands. It delivers an intense, character-driven story that blends deep emotional roots with relentless, isolated suspense. Ahead of the premiere, Svetek sat down to discuss the grueling Highland shoot, pulling trees out of roads, and why human craftsmanship still reigns supreme
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesNewsThrillerTrailers
If you thought Weekend at Bernie’s was too lighthearted and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre didn’t have enough fashion photography, then VVomb Studio has cooked up something uniquely disturbing just for you. The trailer for the new psychosexual thriller Electric Meat has officially dropped ahead of its world premiere at Tubi FrightFest on August 28. Directed by comic book visionary Dan Schaffer (The Scribbler, Doghouse), this film is shaping up to be the year’s most uncomfortable watch. A Butcher With a Bad Case of “Artist’s Block” The story follows a photographer who pays the bills working as a local butcher. When he discovers one of his favorite models murdered in an alleyway, he doesn’t call the police. Instead, he leans into his day job’s unique skill set and decides to keep her around as his new “muse.” But here’s the kicker: he becomes convinced that she’s caught in a state of quantum undead-ness—sort of like Schrödinger’s corpse. She’s both alive
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviewsSci-Fi
Unholy Night (Canada, 2026) Official Synopsis Gino’s traditional family Christmas Eve turns into a bloody battle for survival when his long-dead grandma drops by and goes on a murderous rampage. Amid the chaos, Gino reunites with his ex and the dysfunctional duo must avoid his dead Italian relatives popping up all around the neighbourhood as they search for a way to get rid of these Yuletide revenants and survive his family Christmas. Review Unholy Night is a horror comedy with heart. Squabbles between the Italian family members on Christmas Eve and the problems that arise when relatives return from the dead drive the comedy elements winningly. Director Michael Gabriele balances the humor and the horror nicely, along with relationship and family drama. The ensemble cast members all give solid performances, and the makeup for the revenants is satisfyingly creepy. These living dead can speak, cook, and move around well, and can sometimes be calmed down when they become aggressive enough
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsForeignMoviesReviews
Official Fantasia synopsis from program notes written by Vincenzo Nappi After learning of an evil rock ’n’ roll music promoter’s plan to use heavy metal as a means of enforcing society’s cyclical self-destructive nature and to keep individuals from true self-realization, a metallic-skinned and incredibly well-dressed alien beams down to earth to try to save humanity. However, as his presence attracts the attention of private investigators and corrupt police forces, the stranger must fight to keep society from reaching its hedonistic end. Review Devotees of genre-film musicals that combine horror and science fiction elements with rock and roll are bound to get a kick out of Canadian International Pictures’ terrific new 4K restoration of director Tibor Takács’ 1978 Canadian feature Metal Messiah. Written by Stephen Zoller and based on his play, the film is a gritty journey from the mind of noirish detective Philip Chandler (Richard Ward Allen) to the streets and rock clubs of late seventies Toronto, to places
Continue reading →
EventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNews
Canadian indie directors Brett and Jason Butler are hopping across the pond this August for the World Premiere of their dark satire, STARSUCKERS. And it’s arriving at Tubi FrightFest 2026, the UK’s undisputed holy grail of genre cinema. Want to watch influencers and elite celebrity culture get dismantled in the most chaotic way possible? The Butler Brothers have you covered. Never Meet Your Idols Chuck and Eileen are an ordinary couple. They win a dream weekend getaway with ultra-glamorous celebrity icons Bjorg Everglow and Sasha Nightshade. Naturally, the “dream escape” rapidly degenerates into psychological warfare, manipulation, and casual murder as the famous duo reveals their deeply unhinged true intentions. STARSUCKERS skewers our cultural obsession with clout, status, and the desperate urge to live someone else’s highlight reel—proving that fame isn’t just toxic, it’s deadly. The film stars Manon Ens-Lapointe (The Last Anniversary) and Steven Hobé (How Disney Built America). Rising talents James Alex, Jersey Anderson, and Jacob Stickles join the
Continue reading →
AdaptationBooksEventsFilm FestivalsMoviesNewsTrailers
Writer-director Chris Schwab (Heretic) has unveiled the trailer for his new feature Dracula: The Night Around Us. The film is a modern spin on Bram Stoker’s timeless horror masterpiece that proves you can never truly keep a good vampire down. Fresh off winning the Goule D’Or Award for Best Feature Film at the Portland Horror Film Festival, Dracula: The Night Around Us is now officially bound for London. It will celebrate its UK Premiere at Tubi FrightFest on August 30th as part of the Discovery Screen One lineup. “Dracula is a timeless story, and we’re thrilled to have been able to put a unique spin on one of cinema’s most iconic horrors,” says Schwab. “We can’t wait for London audiences to see what we’ve created.” Sewer-Dwelling Terror The dark reimagining centers on Dr. John Seward. He’s a depressed doctor working at an asylum for the criminally insane. However, he finds a rare glimmer of hope after bonding with his new
Continue reading →
Film FestivalsMoviesReviews
Official Synopsis It’s the summer of 1998 in New York City; Sayo (Jeff Wahlberg, EUPHORIA), a soulful nightlife photographer and small-time drug dealer, is invited to a party upstate by his long-time friend and unrequited love, a movie star on the rise: Vince Marlowe (Brodie Townsend, HEARTBREAK HIGH). Together with their rowdy friend Ross (Michael Vlamis, POOLS), they drive to a remote, bucolic manor in hopes of some summer debauchery. But when they arrive, they discover that the promise of a party is actually three mysterious women – Billie (Lily Cowles, ANTEBELLUM), Wren (Nuha Jes Izman, YELLOWJACKETS) and Cata (Ching Valdes-Aran, THE EQUALIZER) – whose disturbing agenda draws the boys into a dark web of seduction and terror. Review Director Corrin Evans crafts an intriguing fear-fare feature rooted in 1990s club and art culture with Corpus. Evans and cowriter Lily Cowles — who also stars as a renowned photographer — set the discomfiting tone of the film from the opening
Continue reading →
