Overview

• Year2026
• Premiere statusVarious
• LanguageVarious

Another selection of the very best short films submitted to Grimmfest for 2026.

Shorts films that explore themes of haunting and possession, be it literal, psychological, symbolic, or metaphorical.

HOME SWEET HOME (Belgium, 7 min 48 sec) [TBC]

Director: Emile Devetter, Nicola Florin, Producer: Johan Denis, Writer: Emile Devetter, Nicola Florin, Cinematographer: Thimeon Lepers, Editor: Zelie Breyne, Music: Guillaume Toussaint, Cast: Sisi Mbemba Ariel Davy Bwabo

Ashley and Samuel, a brother and sister who were once very close, return to their childhood home after their mother’s death. As they begin clearing out the house, strange events start to unsettle them. The house itself seems to have other intentions.

This might almost be considered a thematic companion piece to POCONGDORIE, which screened in the LAUGHING IN THE DARK programme at Grimmfest part one. Another tale of mismatched siblings confronting family tensions, bad memories, and past trauma as they clear out their late mother’s home. But the tone here is very different, less deadpan in its humour, though no less sharp in its dialogue and character interaction, and amping up the more overtly genre elements as the malignant house resists attempts to clear it, in a series of setpiece sequences that deftly combine the grotesque and the horrific with the ever-so-slightly ridiculous to startling and striking effect. And for all the fun it offers, the film never forgets the underlying seriousness and emotional weight of the story.

BREATHWORK (Sweden, 13 min 01 sec)

Director: Erik Westerström, Producers: Konrad Patocs, Writer: Theo Wanderydz, Cinematographer: Robin Trolin, Editor: Joakim Andreasson, Music: Jonathan Lytz, Cast: Hanna Ardéhn, Madeleine Ferraud Victor Iván Astrid Kakuli 

During a breathwork session, a reluctant skeptic opens herself to “new energies” and lets in something far darker.
Combining a droll, well-observed social satire of middle class New Age posturing with gory, violent possession horror to startling effect, this is a masterclass in tight, smart genre filmmaking with a joltingly shifting, slippery tone; alternately tense, brutal, and blackly funny, boasting strong performances, impressive effects, a fine use of space and shadow, and some of the best timed jump scares you’ll see this year

ADVERSE POSSESSION (Canada, 19 min 02 sec)

Director: Norman Yi Li, Producers: Panthea Vatandoost, Connor Gherring, James Gardiner, Norman Yi Li,  Writer: Norman Yi Li, Cinematographer: Christopher Ajtony, KOYA, Editor: W. Cody Nelson, Music: Ethan Lawrence, Cast: Aileen Wu, Moheb Jindran, Dave Beamish 

Three reno-victed renters break into an abandoned mansion to seek temporary refuge. Inside, the house is eerie but clean and stocked with food and supplies. As the trespassers begin to relax, the house slowly reveals its true nature. Objects start to disappear, as though being absorbed into the furniture and walls. Before long, the trio realize that the house isn’t just empty, it’s famished!

A haunted house film with a difference, balancing an imaginative reworking of such classic haunted house scenarios as THE HAUNTING, THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, and THE CHANGELING with a twist of Lovecraftian strangeness, and some surreal social satire, this serves as a powerful allegory and concrete metaphor for the ever more predatory and financially draining housing market, which prices people out of their own communities, bankrupts them, takes everything they have, chews them up and spits them out. And it’s creepy as all hell, too.

NIGHT WALK (Spain, 8 min 49 sec)

Director: Víctor Martín León, Producers: Javier Yañez Sanz, Writer: Víctor Martín León, Cinematographer: Jacobo Herrero, Editor: Víctor Martín León, Music: Natalia Laguens, Cast: Elena Rey Víctor Anciones

Laura cannot sleep after a nightmare, so she goes for a walk with her dog.
A welcome return for Grimmfest alumni Víctor Martín León, who produced the utterly bone-chilling BOOKWORM, and who this time takes the writer-director’s chair, this has a similarly unsettling, jarring, nightmarish feel to it; something enigmatic and unexplained, that raises questions and suggestions in the brain that linger long afterwards.

ALBAS (Brazil, 23 min 32 sec)

Director: Carlos G. Gananian , Producers: André Moreira, Writer: Carlos G. Gananian , Cinematographer: Otavio Pupo, Editor: André De Campos Mello, Cast: Manuela Afonso, Sylvia Prado, Thamiris Mandú. 

Aurora’s home is invaded by a mysterious, destructive presence.

A claustrophobic, kaleidoscopic mix of psychological thriller, Giallo, Latin American Gothic, and surrealism, with nods to Argento, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington, Frieda Kahlo, and Polanski’s REPULSION, this is a masterclass in mood, and oppressive, uncomfortable atmosphere; utterly compelling, like a nightmare you can neither explain nor escape. 

THE STRANGER AT THE DOOR (Australia, 15 min 30 sec)

Director: Kody J Bramhall , Producers: Kody J Bramhall , Writer: Kody J Bramhall , Cinematographer: David McDonald, Editor: Kody J Bramhall, Cast: Chris Bridgewater, Doll Hunt, Ben Wilson, Miriam Young

A grief-stricken recluse living in isolation after the death of his lover takes in a stranded traveller during a violent storm, unaware that the stranger is an ancient entity that feeds on the very trauma he has spent years trying to bury.

A stunningly visualised tale of guilt, grief, and demonic temptation, shot and lit in high contrast chiaroscuro black and white, like a particularly expressionist film noir, this plays like a queer-themed episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, scripted by Ray Bradbury, with a sharp, provocative, unsettling script, sharp performances, and an extraordinary sense of atmosphere and mood.

EDWARD (USA, 7 min 42 sec)

Director: Elliot Lobell, Producers: Sarah Steinbach, Zach Poots, Writer: Elliot Lobell, Cinematographers: Elliot Lobell, Zach Poots, Music: Samuel Aaron Bennett

Edward is a sideshow performer dealing with a parasitic twin. 
Loosely inspired by a real-life sideshow freak, and drawing on a long tradition of Carny / Sideshow / Freakshow horror, from FREAKS to NIGHTMARE ALLEY to the work of Joe Coleman, this beautifully crafted stop-motion spin on BASKET CASE,  deftly mixes pathos and horror in an unexpectedly poignant tale of love, artistic expression, and possessive jealousy.

NEWCOMER (USA, 22 min 59 sec)

Director: Sam Shapson, Producers: Elena Malashenko, Sam Hardy, Writers: Sam Shapson, Elena Malashenko, Cinematographer: Devon Johns, Editor:  Sam Shapson, Music: Marcus Leitner,  Sam Shapson, Cast: Chase Ziegler, Anthony Carvello, Sarah Lilly, Gibson Ross.

A grieving man attends a séance hoping to contact his departed love – only to uncover the horror of what really happens after we die.

A welcome return to Grimmfest for Sam Shapson and Elena Malashenko, whose stunning adaptation of Robert W. Chambers’ THE KING IN YELLOW screened at last year’s festival. This is an original story, but feels very much in the spirit of such masters as Chambers, Arthur Machen or Robert Hitchens. An eerie, disorientating mix of old school ghost story and encroaching cosmic horror, set at a séance where nothing is quite as it seems, it has the feel of some hitherto forgotten 19th Century genre classic. Elegantly staged, but disorientating, discomforting, and creepy as hell.

TRT: 118 min 23 sec

Still image from BREATHWORK