Once again, the UK’s most popular genre festival offers a delightfully deadly dose of horror to disgust, delight and demoralize, with four short film showcases, curated to unleash the newest terrifying gems from the UK and across the world.
This year’s selection, screened at both the ODEON Luxe Leicester Square and the ODEON Luxe West End, offers sixteen world premieres, with ten countries represented, spanning four continents.
FRIDAY 28 AUGUST – SHORT FILM SHOWCASE 1 (International)
ODEON LUXE LEICESTER SQUARE, DISCOVERY SCREEN FOUR from 4.00pm
The first International Shorts Showcase kicks off with Fangoria Presents’ GOODBYE MONSTER, followed by Noah Lang’s psychologically winding PRIORITY RIDE. Dan Abramovici brings a taste of live action and animation from Canada with LEOPARD, before we head to North Macedonia with the impressive TLSM. Australian director David Robinson-Smith gives us a dark, truth-revealing tale with THE SHIRT OFF YOUR BACK, followed by more offerings from the US: Richard Mulock’s SOUNDS GOOD Casimir Nozkowski’s BOOK U CAN ASK???s, Rob Himebaugh’s FEED THE DARK and Erick Freita’s dark comedic experience SATURDAY MORNING COFFEE. The showcase finishes with a blend of South Korean and Spanish filmmaking, with Adrián Nassar’s IN A ROOM STANDING STILL and Martha G. Ayerbe’s BAIT, bringing a fantastical ending to the day.
GOODBYE MONSTER (International Premiere)
Director: Luke Barnett. With: Kue Lawrence, Luke Barnett, Patton Oswalt, Tina Majorino. USA 2026. 7 min.
A coming-of-age story about a boy and his monster.
PRIORITY RIDE (World Premiere)
Director: Noah Lang. With: Jennifer Gouchoe, Bill Sebastian. USA 2026. 9 min.
During a quiet ride home, a woman begins to notice the small things about her driver that don’t quite add up.
LEOPARD (UK Premiere)
Director: Dan Abramovici. With: Emma Ho, Luca Villacis. CANADA 2025. 11min.
Diego is being a dick, and Tish doesn’t know why. Is he jealous because his little sister is an incredible artist while he’s just a poser playing JV soccer? Or is it because their parents have been fighting ever since they immigrated to Canada? Tish is going to find out.
TLSM (UK Premiere)
Director: Filip Momirovski. With: Damjan Krstevski, Angela Stojanovska, Sinan Rakipovski. NORTH MACEDONIA 2025. 14 min.
A boy prepares for a final showdown with his bullies. A spirit from Macedonian folktales interferes.
THE SHIRT OFF YOUR BACK (UK Premiere)
Director: David Robinson-Smith. With: Eden Wendt, Blye Hawk. AUSTRALIA 2025. 9min.
A dark fairytale about two brothers re-living a strange encounter with a man on Christmas Day, their memories shifting until the truth becomes something that irrevocably changes them.
SOUNDS GOOD (World Premiere)
Director: Richard Mulock. With: Jake Lambie. USA 2026. 2min.
While listening to some music, a man hears something he wasn’t expecting.
BOOK U CA ASK???s (European Premiere)
Director: Casimir Nozkowski. With: Maura Madden, Will Carlough. USA 2025. 6min.
A stoner uses the internet to help a ghost find the correct address of its murderer’s descendants.
FEED THE DARK (International Premiere)
Director: Rob Himebaugh. With: Emily Mutimer, Timothy James Willard. USA 2025. 7min.
Snowbound high in the mountains, a ski patroller realizes her injured colleague has been possessed by a ravenous demon.
SATURDAY MORNING COFFEE (International Premiere)
Director: Erick Freitas. With: Tommy Manna, Erick Freitas. USA 2025. 4min.
A suburban Dad’s perfect life gets turned upside down in a flash when an intruder appears.
IN A ROOM, SITTING STILL (UK Premiere)
Director: Adrián Nassar. With: Duong Hong Ngoc, Yo-won Sun. SOUTH KOREA 2025. 7min.
After killing her friend’s boyfriend, Do-yeon recounts her memory of the events and the feelings that led her to that point.
BAIT (UK Premiere)
Director: Martha G. Ayerbe With: Ramón Barea, Xavi Sáez, Aniol Cisquella. SPAIN 2025. 16min.
On a hunting trip, young Martín accompanies his father and his father’s boss. As the day progresses, each man’s inner tensions and frustrations come to light…
SATURDAY 29 AUGUST – SHORT FILM SHOWCASE 2 (UK & Ireland)
ODEON LUXE WEST END, DISCOVERY SCREEN ONE from 10.30am
On Saturday there is a number of devilish delights from the UK and Ireland, starting with Cheryl Bayliss’ disturbing look into childhood nostalgia with PRETEND WITH PIBBLE, starring Julia Davis, and continues with Dean Plunkett’s nightmarish FUCK FACE, starring Craig Russell, Lainya Craig’s deliciously violent JAMMY, and Matthew Bulley’s weirdly entertaining BENEATH THE SHEETS. Then Irish writer Seán Connolly offers us THE CURE, UK filmmaker Leila Murton Poole displays a not so pretty picture with VIOLENT DELIGHT, and Nick Arthurs curses us with IT ALWAYS COMES BACK, starring Ian Burfield. Finally, the showcase concludes with HUSH LITTLE ONE, starring Mandip Gill and directed by Syd Heather, who brings a team that has worked on The Dark Knight, Rings Of Power, and Love, Death & Robots.
PRETEND WITH PIBBLE (World Premiere)
Director: Cheryl Bayliss. With: Julia Davis. UK 2026. 11min.
When an unseen voice begins guiding a puppet’s world, the line between control and reality starts to collapse.
FUCK FACE (London Premiere)
Director: Dean Puckett. With: Craig Russell, Olivia Driver, Wren Puckett. UK 2026. 9min.
A single mother and her child are put through a nightmarish ordeal when a politician knocks on their door.
JAMMY (London Premiere)
Director: Lainya Craig. With: Lucy Robinson, Michael Tait. UK 2026. 10min.
A struggling baker’s life takes a turn after a violent confrontation awakens a hunger for justice.
BENEATH THE SHEETS (World Premiere)
Director: Matthew Bulley. With: Matt Blin, Sarah Coyne. UK 2026. 8min.
A simple hookup becomes complicated for a goth couple when an Oujia designed blanket proves surprisingly functional.
THE CURE (World Premiere)
Director: Seán Connolly. With: Seamus O’Rourke, Fiona Fitzpatrick. IRELAND 2026. 15min.
After a visit to a man claiming to have the old Irish folklore “cure” goes dreadfully wrong, a woman is haunted by a demonic manifestation of the very thing she was hoping to be cured of – her smoking addiction.
VIOLENT DELIGHTS (World Premiere)
Director: Leila Murton Poole. With: Lucy Doyle. UK 2025. 12min.
A reclusive artist’s latest drawing begins to consume her, blurring the line between creator and creation.
IT ALWAYS COMES BACK (World Premiere)
Director: Nick Arthurs. With: Michael McKell, Ian Burfield, Jenna Brook, Micky Dartford. UK 2026. 8min.
To save his son from a monstrous entity’s wrath, a retired thief is forced to pull off a dangerous reverse heist—breaking into a high-security museum to return the ancient, cursed diamond unwittingly stolen by his son’s gang.
HUSH LITTLE ONE (London Premiere)
Director: Syd Heather. With: Mandip Gill, Sheil Chandrak, Alexander Halsall. UK 2026. 5min.
A sleep-deprived mum discovers her son’s nightmares may actually lurk deep within the shadows.
SUNDAY 30 AUGUST – SHORT FILM SHOWCASE 3 (International)
ODEON LUXE WEST END, DISCOVERY SCREEN ONE from 4.00pm
There are more international talents to make you squirm in your seat, starting with seasoned professional Kevin McTurk, bringing US and Icelandic cinema together with a wonderful mix of animation in GRÝLU SKER: AN ICELANDIC GHOST STORY. Then US filmmaker Ren Ariel Sano offers us a vengeful cake in THE CANDLE, Steven Schloss teams up with Ready Or Not 2’s stunt coordinator Thomas Lorber with VAPE GLOW, and Ryan Lillenfield brings us psychedelic cult ritual in INHERITOR. Then there are nasty therapeutic twists in THE CHOSEN, starring Toby Poser, deep psychological fear in DREAD, dark dairy horror in UDDERS!, and in SKINNED, is sexual betrayal skin-deep? Emily Lawson brings us a uniquely neurodivergent viewpoint in MAN EATING PUSSY, starring Julian Richings, and we climax with US director Joe Heath NO.3, starring Michael X Sommers.
GRÝLU SKER: AN ICELANDIC GHOST STORY (London Premiere)
Director: Kevin McTurk. With: Peter Stormare, Piotr Michael. ICELAND 2026. 22min.
Shipwrecked off the coast of Iceland, an explorer must fight for survival on a desolate island inhabited by the bloodthirsty witch Grýla.
THE CANDLE (European Premiere)
Director: Ren Ariel Sano. With: Daisy Lopez, John-Michael Sedor. USA 2026. 9min.
Have your cake…and it eats you.
VAPE GLOW (World Premiere)
Director: Steven Schloss. With: Samuel Dunning, Kelsey Lea Jones. USA 2026. 6min.
Told entirely from the perspective of a recalled vape pen, Mike puffs around a dark vacation rental, illuminating it during an unusual blackout.
STROBE WARNING
INHERITOR (World Premiere)
Director: Ryan Lilienfield. With: Nastasia Koulic, Piper Verbick, Alyassa Renne Olson. USA 2026. 14min.
On the day of her ascension within her secluded, tree-worshipping cult, Ama, a sheltered young woman leaps into a treacherous psychedelic ritual that forces her to choose between her duty to her people and her desire to be with her childhood best friend and lover, Oakley.
STROBE WARNING
THE CHOSEN (UK Premiere)
Director: Brady Richards. With: Toby Poser, Holden Sakran. USA 2025. 9min.
Reed is troubled by a vision forcing him to do bad things, but nobody believes him. Maybe this new therapist will understand?
DREAD (European Premiere)
Director: Leonardo Benericetti. With: Lasse Meilvang. NORWAY 2025. 3min.
We meet a patient, trapped in a hospital room, waiting for his judgement after a car accident.
UDDERS! (World Premiere)
Director: Michael Spencer. With: Nicky Maindiratta. USA 2026. 6min
What is this naked man running from?
SKINNED (London Premiere)
Director: Alexandra Ruggieri. With: Wendy Maitlen, Cyrus Stowe. USA 2026. 6min.
When Lucy’s partner removes the condom mid-sex without consent, she tries to play it cool—until his betrayal drives her to a twisted form of revenge.
MAN EATING PUSSY (UK Premiere)
Director: Emily Lawson. With: Grace Glowicki, Julian Richings, Ted Charette. CANADA 2025. 13min.
A dying man seeks the ultimate release: a birth in reverse.
NO. 3 (UK Premiere)
Director: Joe Heath. With: Michael X Sommers. USA 2025. 13min.
A young man’s desperate plea to use a gas station bathroom leads to the most unforgettable piss of his life.
MONDAY 31 AUGUST – SHORT FILM SHOWCASE 4 (UK & Ireland)
ODEON LUXE WEST END, DISCOVERY SCREEN ONE from 1.05pm
FrightFest’s final showcase brings us home, back to the talent of UK & Ireland – opening with Irish writer-director Dylan Delaney’s CALL CENTRE SHIVA. Then, in Quentin Beroud’s DECORUM, has Angie met the love of her life (Jonny Labey) or is she about to die? VR goes extremely wrong in CRAK HACK, starring Johnny Vivash, and how can Eve stop AI from destroying her in THE TEST? There’s a stranger’s eye for horror in David Yorke’s I SPY, starring Emma Louise Webb, and pigs don’t fly in HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL. There’s a heavy dose of supernatural mockumentary in horror comedy BAXTER HAMMOND: PI, while Scottish filmmaker Aimie Willemse takes us on an exploration of dementia through the eyes of a nine-year-old in SUNDOWNING. We finish our final showcase of this year with UK and Taiwanese collaboration in THE SORROWS OF YOUNG CHARLOTTE, directed by Shir Ariya, in which a rebound encounter climaxes in an unimaginable explosive way.
CALL CENTRE SHIVA (UK Premiere)
Director: Dylan Delaney. With: Jacqui Whelan, Brenda McSweeney. IRELAND 2026. 16min.
A beloved villager is accused of serial murder. However, the community has trouble reconciling the suspect’s light and shadow side.
THEMES OF SUICIDE
DECORUM (World Premiere)
Director: Quentin Beroud. With: Jonny Labey, Margherita Barbieri. UK 2025. 9min.
A perfect first date turns sour when Miles brings Angie back to his flat and she realises it’s totally blank. But is zero decoration just laziness… or something darker?
CRAK HACK (UK Premiere)
Director: Brendan Cleaves. With: Johnny Vivash. UK 2025. 12min.
In a near-future dominated by VR intimacy, a lonely man’s attempt to save his long-distance relationship with a high-tech device spirals into absurd and horrifying chaos when hackers seize control, forcing him to confront unspeakable scenarios.
THE TEST (World Premiere)
Director: Grattan Aitkins. With: Laura Hutchinson, Culann McCarthy. IRELAND 2026. 9min.A woman, Eve, wakes up groggy and disorientated in a room with nothing more than a bed and a chair. A voice over the loudspeakers begins to ask her a series of questions as a scientific test.
I SPY (World Premiere)
Director: David Yorke. With: Emma Louise Webb, Ellis Jordan. UK 2026. 7min.
An innocent game of I Spy between Julie and Ethan turns into a nightmare when an unseen presence joins the game.
HOPE THIS FINDS YOY WELL (World Premiere)
Director: Ben Ngondo-Cooke. With: Sonja Doubleday, Ginger, Ben Valentine Ngondo-Cooke. UK 2026. 8min.
Private Investigator Gregory looks into the disappearance of Robin Ings, an employee of Naphtha Corporation. Robin’s wife, Mrs. Mildred Ings, seems to be involved in his absence…
BAXTER HAMMOND: P.I. (London Premiere)
Director: Scott McCartney. With: Owen Coomber, Michael Moretti, Lauren Moore. UK 2025. 10min.
Baxter Hammond is a professional paranormal investigator specialising in cases of supernatural disturbance. With the assistance of his trainee, Danny, he deals with exorcisms, werewolves, vampires, and group therapy for his monstrous clientele.
SUNDOWNING (World Premiere)
Director: Aimie Willemse. With: Betty Pirie, Maria Macdonnel, Sarah McCardie. UK 2026. 11min.
Left alone with her estranged grandmother, a perceptive nine-year-old sees her become something monstrous, navigating a night of fear, confusion, and the thin line between love and survival.
THE SORROWS OF YOUNG CHARLOTTE (World Premiere)
Director: Shir Ariya. With: Liv Jekyll, Fabian Bevan. UK 2026. 14min.
After a devastating break-up, Charlie sleeps with her friend Werther on a whim. But when he confesses his true feelings for her, an unnerving and darkly explosive argument erupts.
In addition, there are two short films in the accompanying features in the Main Screen:
There are also two shorts playing in the Main Screen. To celebrate its 30th Anniversary, FrightFest is presenting the UK premiere of the 4K restoration of Michael Dougherty’s SEASON’S GREETINGS. With remastered 5.1 audio, it preserves the charm of its original 16mm presentation while inviting audiences to experience trick-or-treater Sam (who would later become a modern horror icon), as he first appeared. Created using traditional hand-drawn animation methods, the film unfolds like a dark holiday fable: playful, eerie, and quietly unforgiving. This will play before PONDEROSA on Friday 28 August.
The second film is the UK premiere of HOODSTEPS, a Japanese stop-motion animated short film directed by Nomura Fusso. The acclaimed short is an absurdist, deeply humorous, and hopeful dark comedy that explores routine, bodily autonomy, and grief. This will play before YOU ARE THE FILM on Monday 31 August.
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Tubi FrightFest 2026 runs from 27– 31 August at Odeon LUXE Leicester Sq & Odeon LUXE West End.
For full programme details & tickets: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/