If you love horror, this October Manchester will be the place to be and at Grimmfest. Today the festival announced it’s 2026 line-up and it promises to be ‘Ferocious and Bloodthirsty’.
Running from 8th until 11th October the 18th edition of the festival deliver a mix of new horrors from around the world. World, International and UK premieres along with classics films promises to terrify, grip even laugh.
This year’s festival kicks-off with classic John Carpenter and The Fog. Starring genre icon Adrienne Barbeau who will attend to receive the Grimmfest Lifetime Achievement Award. At this stage the closing film has not been announced as the festival promise one final surprise!
Grimmfest this year will have 2 big themes running in it’s line-up Period horror and Spanish language horrors. Victorian Vile will offer a selection of historical shockers, including Hammer Films Ithaqua. Casey Walker‘s Canadian frontier set chiller stars Kevin Durand, Michael Pitt, Luke Hemsworth in an indigenous tale of myths and madness.
French filmmaker Quarxx (Pandemonium) returns to test our morality with the alternate reality The One Who Grieve. Myths of 1800’s Cyprus and myth of Medea in Minos Papas‘ viscerally powerful folk horror Motherwitch. Taratoa Stappard’s Māori Gothic horror Mārama starring Toby Stephens in a nightmarish reworking of Jane Eyre.
Spanish Screams Strand dedicated to all things Spanish-language Horror. Films we can enjoy are atmospheric 1970s Galician horror They Always Come At Night, Victor Català‘s film vengeful spirits, satire and Civil War guilt. Cristian Bernard’s Under Your Feet offers a mix of Suspiria and Rosemary’s Baby starring Maribel Verdú (Pan’s Labyrinth). Evil Dress promises to deliver old school haunted house scares and Reversion offers paranoid psychological thriller. Christopher Cartagena’s Disforia is a home invasion thriller set in the backdrop of an societal collapse. Whilst Gustavo Hernández’s The Whisper teases generational curse as siblings flee violent father.
Other highlights from this year’s Grimmfest include Ángel Gómez Hernández‘s intense spider horror Crawlers starring Matilda Lutz. Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Alyssa Sutherland star in Kurt Martin‘s The Room Below will test your mind with Stephen King meets David Lynch fairytale. City Dwellers piss off Small town America in Lucky Cerruti’s brutal Boxcutter. Dave Boyle‘s gripping and emotive reboot of old-school J-Horror, Never After Dark and Asia Argento stars in crime comedy Stronger Than The Devil.
There will also be Northern UK Premiere’s of several festival favourites Adams Family‘s The Glorious Dead, Tyler Savage‘s Lovecraftian horror Oddities. Jason Lei Howden’s long-awaited sequel Deathgasm 2: Goremageddon, Steve Pink‘s Terrestrial, gig economy anthology Grind. Aitor Zholdaskali‘s Sicko (Auru) is a dark brutal stab at social media influencers.
2026 Grimmfest will take place in Manchester from 8th until 11th October. More info including info on tickets here.
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