One of the most popular elements of any film festival is the short films, and this year’s Short Film Showcase titles have been announced for Tubi FrightFest, which takes place in London’s Leicester Square between August 27th and 31st.
On Friday, August 28th, there’s 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.
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 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.
There are more international talents on Sunday, 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 has a 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.
Monday’s final showcase brings talent from the UK and 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.
There are also two shorts playing on the main screen. Before Ponderosa on Friday with be the 4K restoration of Michael Dougherty’s Season’s Greetings, celebrating its 30th anniversary. Ahead of You are the Film on Monday, there’s the UK premiere of Nomura Fusso’s stop-motion short Hoodsteps.
Tubi FrightFest 2026 runs from August 27th – 31st at Odeon LUXE Leicester Square and Odeon LUXE West End. For full programme details & tickets: http://www.frightfest.co.uk/
