Nightmares Film Festival 2026 Days Three & Four: Black Gloves, Found Footage, and Home Invasions
Days three and four of the Nightmares Film Festival were chock-full of must-see movies, and we have the rundown for you here.
If Thursday and Friday were the appetizer and first main course of Nightmares Film Festival 2026, then Saturday was an all-you-can-eat platter and Sunday the dessert. Found footage, gialli, home invasion chills, chamber piece thrills, pulsating space rocks, black gloves & blades, a penis monster…you name it, Nightmares had it. Yes, even a machete-wielding, jet ski-riding rapper.
Alex Hera’s What I Remember and Ned Crowley’s Dead Drop both brought in on the thriller front, each tackling a different area of the genre. They did so in intriguing ways – sometimes funny and sometimes not – establishing both as films worth seeking out when they hit wider release in the near future. Of course, this festival has never had a problem when it comes to showcasing movies worth watching (be they features or shorts).
Speaking of shorts, themed blocks were on deck for the back half of the festival weekend. I’m not just talking genre-themed blocks, although there were plenty of those centering around horror shorts, midnighters, thrillers, docs, and horror comedies. Co-founder Jason Tostevin prides himself each year on curating a few hyper-specific blocks and 2026 was no different. This year’s dark offerings on that front included “Avian Overlords”, “It Watches Back”, “Malignant Growths”, and an especially-striking Italian horror centric one entitled “BLCK GLVS”. All were great, but as a giallo fan starved by a lack of modern options, that last one really hit the spot. Special shoutouts to Jeff Speed’s Red Ribbons in the House of Stained Glass and Domenico Montixi’s They Rose from the Grave and It Was…the Apocalypse! for sating my hunger for new Italian Horror.
Every year, the fest manages to roll out at least one utterly gonzo affair full of bravura performances and bottled insanity. No 2026 selection fits that bill more than Drew Britton’s Flytrapper. Co-lead/co-writer Georgia Lee King explodes onto the screen in this gnarly female-led horror opus. Her co-lead, Leah Piescinski, is no less impressive in the quieter role. Director/co-writer Britton has crafted a grimy, naturalistic, and mean slice of horror filmmaking here. might not be for everyone, but it is certain to strike a chord with many a horror fan, and it did just that with the Nightmares audience.
