Nightmares Film Festival Opens New Decade
of Better Horror with 2026 Program Reveal
Legendary live experience returns to celebrate dark horses of genre with 16 feature premieres, 150 shorts, a one-of-kind double feature, themed blocks and moreNightmares Film Festival (Oct. 15 to 18) today revealed its 2026 program, opening its second decade with a celebration of the globe’s boldest, freshest and most dangerous genre works.
“It’s our eleventh year, but we’re thinking of this as Year One of a new decade of Nightmares,” said co-founders Jason Tostevin. “We’re celebrating the innovation, grittiness, imagination and camaraderie that fuel the best of genre film.”
Dubbed the “Cannes of horror” (iHorror), Nightmares is part summer camp for horror lovers, part annual reunion for some of the world’s top genre creators. Taking over the world-renowned Gateway Film Center, the festival will bring fans, filmmakers, screenwriters, press and industry reps together for 16 features, 150 shorts, 26 screenplay finalists and one-of-a-kind experiences. Its inclusive, easygoing atmosphere carries from the cinemas into the Jules Verne-themed Torpedo Room, where the NFF Sleepless gather for drinks, film talk and “the best networking on the festival circuit” (the Film Coterie). Onesie Sunday returns to close out the four-day celebration in horror-themed PJs.
The features lineup spans found-footage shockers, claustrophobic thrillers and brain-breaking midnighters – all coming to the Midwest for the very first time. Opening night brings the new 4K restoration of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, the seminal work that changed horror forever. And, completing the delightfully unhinged trilogy, The Last Temptation of Becky makes its Midwest premiere ahead of theatrical release.
Feature world premieres include Death Came Knocking (featuring Caroline Williams, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), a deranged, shot-on-16mm ’70s home-invasion throwback; horror comedy Liv’s Last Ride, a bachelorette bloodbath; When You See It, a found-footage reality-show nightmare whose leads suspect their host is manufacturing the haunting; and The Curse of Tahu’a, a suffocating thriller that sees an island air traffic controller trying to save a plane that doesn’t appear on radar. U.S. premieres include Dead Drop, a freight-elevator thriller with a predicament of biblical proportions, and Astrolatry, a gooey midnighter about obsession … and an irresistible alien orb.
Bespoke experiences designed to delight genre-diehards continue to be central to the NFF program design.
“We want these to be the best four days of your genre year,” said co-founder Chris Hamel. “Nightmares is a place where you make memories and connections for life, from being welcomed by fellow fans to discovering your next favorite filmmaker or being inspired to write your next script and meeting the people you’ll make it with.”
A notable one-of-a-kind experience is the first ever double feature of found footage horrors Looky Loo and its world premiering sequel, Looky Loo: Part II. The films follow a faceless serial killer who, after his first film goes viral, sets out to make a documentary starring his next victims.
The renowned shorts program returns with a vengeance, collecting 150 of the world’s best new midnight, horror, thriller and horror comedy stories. Shorts lovers will find five of Nightmares’ beloved themed shorts blocks this year: savage plants in Malignant Growths, death by bird in Avian Overlords, televisions that turn the tables in It Watches Back, a collection of short horror documentaries, and a gorgeous, bloody hour of giallo in BLCK GLVS. Recurring Nightmares also returns, introducing the latest work from NFF alumni.
Nightmares will honor 26 feature and short screenplay finalists, connecting writers with production teams through its FinaList and meetings at the festival.
Films and screenplays in competition vie for the Night Mare statuette, honoring the dark horses of genre and designed and sculpted by renowned figure artist Tony Simione (Marvel, Star Wars, Godzilla, Alien).
Limited VIP badges are now available for purchase while they last at https://nightmaresfest.eventive.org. There, attendees can also purchase exclusive access to NFF Outbreak (Oct. 19 to 26), the festival’s brand new digital showcase, offering selected films from the program in a secure online presentation available to those who can’t attend the live event.
