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Grimmfest · 2026

Grimmfest 2026

Features

Programme

25 films · 11 reviews

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Boxcutter

After a fatal car accident, a family is plunged into a nightmare.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Lucky Cerruti; Writer: Lucky Cerruti; Stars: Evan McFarland, Michael Lake, Kyle D King, Tyler Nye, Diego Rojas)

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.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Ángel Gómez Hernández; Writer: Jayson Rothwell; Stars: Matilda Lutz, Gregg Sulkin, Melina Matthews)

Full review

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.

(Country: New Zealand/Aotearoa, Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Jason Howden; Writer: Jason Howden; Stars: Milo Cawthorne, Kimberley Crossman, James Joshua Blake, Sam Berkley, Daniel Cresswell, Kieran Charnock)

Full review

Disforia

Live-streamed games of torture on the dark web collide with a desperate mother’s fight for survival.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2025; Director: Christopher Cartagena González; Writer: Joan-Pol Argenter, Christopher Cartagena González, Imanol Ortiz López; Stars: Claudia Salas, Fariba Sheikhan, Noah Casas, Eloy Azorín, Kike Guaza)

Dracula (Horror Of 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.

(Country: UK; Year: 1958; Director: Terence Fisher; Writer: Jimmy Sangster, based on the novel by Bram Stoker; Stars: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough, Melissa Stribling, Carol Marsh, Olga Dickie, John Van Eyssen)

Full review

Evil Dress

After a difficult divorce, Alicia moves into an old house with her daughter Carla, unaware that it hides a tragic history. A blue dress discovered in the attic connects Carla to a girl from the past, triggering terrifying events.

(Year: 2026; Director: Jacob Santana; Writer: Fank Ariza; Stars: Belén Rueda, Vera Centenera, Santiago Molero)

The Fog

Review preview for The Fog

Simple things like a radio suddenly switching on, a wine glass falling to the floor, or an insistent knocking at the door are an object lesson to contemporary horror’s blood-soaked tyros.

Jeff Robson · 4 out of 5
A small town on the California coast is swathed in a mysterious fog containing the vengeful ghosts of shipwrecked sailors.

(Country: US; Year: 1980; Director: John Carpenter; Writer: John Carpenter, Debra Hill; Stars: Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hal Holbrook, Janet Leigh)

Full review

The Glorious Dead

A small-town sheriff and her deputy awaken to a changed world where blood drips from taps, people vanish, creatures roam the woods, and the dead rise as the town descends into chaos.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: John Adams, Toby Poser; Writer: John Adams, Toby Poser; Stars: John Adams, Lulu Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser, Judith Roberts)

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.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty, Chelsea Stardust; Writer: Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty; Stars: Rob Huebel, Barbara Crampton, Vinny Thomas, Jessika Van, Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette, James Urbaniak, Courtney Pauroso, James Paxton, Ify Nwadiwe, Aubrey Shea)

Full review See: Interview with Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty and Chelsea Stardust about Grind , Interview with Barbara Crampton about Grind

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.

(Year: 2026; Director: Casey Walker; Writer: Pascal Trottier, Peter Scott Vicaire, Casey Walker; Stars: Luke Hemsworth, Kevin Durand, Michael Pitt, Leenah Robinson, Pamela Matthews, Aaron Poole, Mara Pasley)

Full review See: Interview with Casey Walker about Ithaqua

Ivan

Abigail is thrilled when her estranged father reappears, gifting her a cutting-edge AI device named Ivan. She soon realises, however, that he has an ulterior motive, and the device is not quite what it seems.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2026; Director: Damien Fannon; Writer: Michael Schwartz, Damien Fannon; Stars: Stephen Bogaert, Tanya Clarke, Julia Tomasone, Anna Mirodin, Jordan Kronis)

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.

(Country: New Zealand/Aotearoa; Year: 2025; Director: Taratoa Stappard; Writer: Taratoa Stappard; Stars: Ariana Osborne, Toby Stephens, Umi Myers, Evelyn Towersey, Errol Shand)

Full review See: Interview with Taratoa Stappard about Marama, part 2 , Interview with Taratoa Stappard about Marama

Motherwitch

Eleni, a painter in Cyprus in 1882, reaches into the shadows to resurrect her lost children, but instead summons the ancient Kalikantzari of Cypriot lore. She must now confront the storm of her grief and anger, and lift the curse.

(Country: Cyprus, North Macedonia, US; Year: 2026; Director: Minos Papas; Writer: Evripidis Dikaios, Nikolas Kouroumtzis, Minos Papas; Stars: Margarita Zachariou, Miltos Yerolemou, Danae Katsameni, Dimitri Andreas, Athos Antoniou, Marina Makris)

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.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2025; Director: Dave Boyle; Writer: Dave Boyle; Stars: Moeka Hoshi, Kento Kaku, Kurumi Inagaki, Mutsuo Yoshioka, Bokuzo Masana, Tae Kimura)

Full review

Oddities

Best friends who inadvertently killed their drug dealer stop at a seemingly sleepy roadside antique shop, only to discover that the owner is not as sweet as she seems.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Tyler Savage; Stars: Adrienne Barbeau, Xander Berkeley, Lovie Simone, Lilimar)

The Ones Who Grieve (Les Âmes En Peine)

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.

(Country: France; Year: 2026; Director: Quarxx; Writer: Quarxx, Frederic Soulier; Stars: Thierry Frémont, Zelie Rixhon, Isabelle Anciaux, Ophélia Kolb, Jean-Baptiste Maunier)

Full review

Reversion

Mario moves to a new house with his parents and his older brother, Carlos. One rainy afternoon, Mario witnesses his brother being kidnapped. After 19 days of agonising waiting, Carlos returns a different man, with no recollection of what happened to him.

(Year: 2026; Director: Jacob Santana; Writer: Frank Ariza, Marco Lagarde, Jacob Santana; Stars: Jaime Lorente, Manuel Vega, Belén Rueda)

The Room Below

After losing her son to cancer, a grieving mother kidnaps another boy as a replacement, but her plans unravel when a retired detective starts searching for the missing child, and she begins to suspect there is something supernatural living in the basement.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Kurt Martin; Writer: Kurt Martin; Stars: Alyssa Sutherland, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Goran D Kleut)

Sicko

Happily married couple Azamat and Tancho live a carefree life until Azamat is forced to face his mounting debts. In desperation, they come up with a scheme to fake Stage 4 cancer for Tancho and raise money through crowdfunding - but success leads to temptation.

(Country: Kazakhstan; Year: 2026; Director: Aitore Zholdaskali; Stars: Ayan Utepbergen, Dilnaz Kurmangali, Azat Zhumadil, and Aida Kurmangaliyeva)

Stronger Than The Devil

A man living on the fringes of society is thrilled to reconnect with his son after 20 years of separation, but his ties to a sinister trio of criminals drags his son and his son's girlfriend into a violent downward spiral.

(Country: France; Year: 2026; Director: Graham Guit; Writer: Graham Guit; Stars: Melvil Poupaud, Marine Vacth, Asia Argento)

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.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Steve Pink; Writer: Connor Diedrich, Sam Johnson; Stars: Brendan Hunt, Pauline Chalamet, Rob Yang, Germaine Fowler, Edy Monica, James Morosini)

Full review See: Interview with Steve Pink about Terrestrial

They Always Come At Night

Galicia, 1976. An already awkward family dinner is being constantly interrupted by calls from an increasingly hysterical neighbour warning of hooded figures emerging from the mist.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2026; Director: Victor Català; Writer: Victor Català; Stars: Lucia Viga, Miguel Lago Casal, Paula Gallego, Daniel Arias)

Under Your Feet

Strange sounds from elderly downstairs neighbours create a sinister disturbance for a recent divorcee who has moved into the building with her two children.

(Year: 2026; Director: Cristian Bernard; Writer: Cristian Bernard, Hernán Moyano, Ana Esperanza Villar Romarís; Stars: Maribel Verdú, Sofía Otero, Erik Probanza)

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.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2026; Director: Zachary Wigon; Writer: Virginia Feito; Stars: Maika Monroe, Thomasin McKenzie, Ruth Wilson, Jason Isaacs, Evie Templeton, Jacobi Jupe, Amy De Bhrún, Katherine Moran, Dagmar Döring, Kate Brady, Elishka Lane)

Full review

The Whisper

Two siblings fleeing from their violent father take refuge in a remote mansion, only to uncover a terrifying secret: their neighbours are part of a criminal network which kidnaps teenage girls to make snuff films.

(Country: Uruguay, Argentina; Year: 2026; Director: Gustavo Hernández; Writer: Juma Fodde; Stars: Ana Clara Guanco, Marcelo Michinaux, Luciano Cáceres)