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Festival coverage

Grimmfest

8 October – 11 October 2026

This year's Grimmfest has a great line-up of international horror titles, including some of the biggest festival hits of the season, alongside much-loved classics well worth catching on the big screen. There will also be a marketplace for fans at Manchester venue the Odeon Great Northern, and a chance to meet some of the directors and stars whose work is screening.

The festival runs from 8 to 11 October.

View complete schedule

Other years (12)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Crawlers
    Review preview for Crawlers

    It’s a monster movie by the numbers and yet its creators have a good understanding of how to give viewers what they really don’t want.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    Tenants at Paradiso Palms apartments fight a deadly spider invasion.
  • The Ones Who Grieve
    Review preview for The Ones Who Grieve

    In an age of monstrous men, Frément’s creation stands out.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    At the end of the 19th century, as a mysterious plague spreads across the countryside, a young woman living under the tyranny of her deeply religious father fights to reclaim her freedom.
  • Grind
    Review preview for Grind

    We move from one subject and set of characters to another, but the pacing, energy, horror and humour are perfectly in key, and the whole is a perfect delight.

    Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
    A horror anthology tackling the modern work landscape through four timely perspectives – the hustle culture of an MLM, the endless repetitiveness of a food delivery driver, the online horrors of a content moderator, and the unionisation of a coffee shop.
  • Ithaqua
    Review preview for Ithaqua

    Made in close consultation with the people whose ancient lore it borrows, this is a film rich in detail, so solidly grounded and astute in its observation of real world horrors that viewers will find it easy to accept its more fantastical aspects.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    American mercenary Cole Franklin is recruited as a hired gun at the remote outpost of Fort William, struggling to survive the decline of the fur trade. With dwindling supplies, the keepers of the Fort blackmail Cole into leading a trading party to a nearby Indigenous village, where they discover a massacre.
  • Victorian Psycho
    Review preview for Victorian Psycho

    Wigon’s film is arch as a proscenium from the start

    Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
    Trouble brews at a gothic manor after they hire a governess.
  • Marama
    Review preview for Marama

    One of the most impressive films of the year to date.

    Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
    A young Māori woman travels to Victorian England after receiving a letter promising information about her birth parents. As she peels back the layers of colonial deceit, she is driven to avenge her shattered ancestry.
  • Never After Dark
    Review preview for Never After Dark

    Like all the best supernatural tales, it keeps the rules simple but still manages to wrongfoot viewers.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A wandering medium, Airi spends her life guiding restless spirits out of the world of the living. Summoned to an isolated country house, she comes face to face with a grotesque apparition with powers that defy her experience - but the biggest danger she faces comes from the living.
  • Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon
    Review preview for Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon

    The original film was derided by critics for being crude, exploitative and immature. Fans will be pleased to know that this one delivers more of the same.

    Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
    Brodie resurrects his bandmates to win the battle-of-the-bands and reacquire his girlfriend. His uncontrollable undead bandmate raises an army of costumed corpses. Brodie must stop the zombie horde before it ruins his musical dreams and love life.
  • Terrestrial
    Review preview for Terrestrial

    Concerned with exploring what ordinary people might do in extremis, Terrestrial is one of those films that turns on a single line.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    During a weekend reunion, a rising science fiction author welcomes three college friends to his home, but strange events begin to blur the lines between reality and imagination.
  • Dracula
    Review preview for Dracula

    Constantly chilling and never less than eerie, this first colour outing for Vlad is undoubtedly the stuff of nightmares.

    Stephen Carty · 4.5 out of 5
    Adaptation of the classic vampire tale.

A–Z of Grimmfest 2026 reviews

Features

  • Walking on air
    Casey Walker on working with Hammer, filming in freezing temperatures and making Ithaqua
  • From the withered tree
    Taratoa Stappard on colonial hierarchies, Ariana Osborne and Marama
  • The dying house
    Taratoa Stappard on colonial horrors and inventing the Maori Gothic with Marama
  • Sugaring the pill
    Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty and Chelsea Stardust on Grind
  • Hustle horror
    Barbara Crampton on comedy, horror, corporate culture and Grind
  • Down to Earth
    Steve Pink on science fiction, pitching, sandwiches and Terrestrial