Five Films You Don’t Want to Miss at Soho Horror Film Festival 2026

If there’s one thing we love about horror film festivals, it’s the opportunity to discover something completely unexpected. And with everything from giant spiders and sinister online shopping to talking foxes and fame-hungry vampires, this year’s Soho Horror Film Festival looks ready to deliver plenty of surprises.

Returning to London’s Coldharbour Blue Cinema in Brixton from 20 to 22 November 2026, the festival is serving up another wonderfully weird selection of independent horror, international premieres and genre-bending oddities. And for those who can’t make it to London, the scares continue with the online Sohome Horror Film Festival from 26 to 29 November.

With more than 75 films across the two events, there’s a ridiculous amount to choose from. So, to make things a little easier, we’ve picked out five features from the theatrical programme that we think deserve a place on your must-watch list.

1. Sender (2026)

Saturday 21 November, 6.30pm | UK Premiere

Ever had the creepy feeling your phone knows a little too much about you? Well, Sender takes that everyday paranoia and turns it into something considerably more disturbing.

Directed by Russell Goldman, this psychological thriller follows Julia, a woman attempting to put her life back together after addiction, who starts receiving mysterious packages from an online retailer. The trouble is, she hasn’t ordered them. And the increasingly personal nature of their contents suggests somebody, or something, knows far more about her than they should.

With a cast including Britt Lower, Rhea Seehorn, David Dastmalchian and Jamie Lee Curtis, Sender explores our uncomfortable relationship with technology, consumerism and the algorithms that seem to know our every move.

We’ve already had the pleasure of reviewing this one at Love Horror, where Erica Vilkus praised its unsettling atmosphere, performances and exploration of addiction and recovery.

If you like your horror psychological, unpredictable and uncomfortably close to reality, this is definitely one to catch.

Read our full Sender review.

2. Don’t Move (2026)

Friday 20 November, 4.30pm | International Premiere

Giant spiders. A camping trip gone horribly wrong. A group of people who apparently can’t keep quiet to save their lives. What’s not to love?

Opening the festival is Maclain Nelson’s Don’t Move, a creature feature that takes a familiar horror setup and gives it a particularly nasty eight-legged twist.

When a church youth group ventures into the Ozark wilderness, their peaceful retreat is interrupted by an enormous prehistoric spider with a rather unfortunate hunting technique. It detects its prey through vibrations, meaning the slightest movement could turn somebody into lunch.

Naturally, this is terrible news for a group of terrified campers who can’t stop arguing.

Starring Lyndsy Fonseca, Tom Cavanagh and Rob Riggle, Don’t Move looks like exactly the sort of gloriously entertaining B-movie that deserves to be enjoyed with a packed cinema audience.

Think Tremors meets Eight Legged Freaks, with a little extra arachnophobia thrown in for good measure.

Possibly not one for anyone planning a camping holiday anytime soon, though.

3. The Fox (2026)

Saturday 21 November, 9pm | Special Preview

If you’re after something a little different, how about a dark Australian comedy featuring a talking fox voiced by Olivia Colman and a foul-mouthed magpie voiced by Sam Neill? Yes, really.

Written and directed by Dario Russo, The Fox follows Nick, a rather clueless farmhand whose world falls apart when he discovers his fiancée has been cheating on him. Fortunately, or perhaps very unfortunately, a mysterious talking fox offers him a magical solution to his relationship problems.

Unfortunately, magical shortcuts rarely work out particularly well in films like this.

What follows is a bizarre mixture of supernatural folklore, relationship satire and increasingly outrageous comedy, with a wonderfully strange collection of characters.

Our own Darren Gaskell recently caught The Fox at Celluloid Screams and found plenty to enjoy in its wonderfully absurd premise, sharp humour and surprisingly unsettling observations about relationships.

It might not be traditional horror, but that’s half the fun of festivals like Soho Horror. Sometimes the strangest films end up being the most memorable.

Read our full The Fox review.

4. I Love Paris (2026)

Saturday 21 November, 12.45pm | London Premiere

Being an aspiring musician is hard enough without suddenly developing an overwhelming thirst for human blood.

But that’s exactly the predicament facing Paris, an ambitious young French artist whose plans for pop stardom take a rather unexpected turn when she encounters a vampire.

Rather than letting her new undead lifestyle interfere with her career, Paris decides to embrace it, using her supernatural abilities to help climb the music industry’s ladder. Even if that means occasionally eating the competition.

Directed by Nicky Murphy, I Love Paris looks like a brilliantly chaotic combination of vampire comedy, music industry satire and social media obsession.

With its mockumentary approach and contemporary setting, there’s certainly a flavour of What We Do in the Shadows here, although the focus on TikTok, celebrity culture and the relentless pursuit of fame gives it a distinctly modern spin.

We have a particular soft spot for horror comedies that aren’t afraid to be a bit ridiculous, and this one sounds like it could be an absolute blast.

After all, who needs a record deal when you’ve got supernatural powers and absolutely no moral objections to eating your rivals?

5. Godmother (2026)

Saturday 21 November, 3.30pm | European Premiere

We’ve all stayed in holiday accommodation where something feels a little off. Maybe the decor is strange, the neighbours are unsettling or the owners seem just a bit too friendly.

Thankfully, most of us haven’t experienced anything quite as disturbing as the characters in Godmother.

Directed by John Veron, this desert-set horror follows Colby and his girlfriend Theo, whose romantic getaway is supposed to end with a marriage proposal. Unfortunately, things begin to unravel when Theo’s unpredictable sister Katie arrives and their seemingly lovely Airbnb hosts start behaving rather strangely.

Before long, the couple’s relaxing retreat becomes something considerably more sinister, with dead animals, disturbing discoveries and a pair of elderly hosts who clearly have more on their minds than receiving a five-star review.

Featuring horror veteran Dee Wallace alongside Paige Evans and Riley Dandy, Godmother promises an intriguing mixture of uncomfortable family dynamics, folk horror and the sort of hospitality that makes you wish you’d booked a Travelodge instead.

There’s something particularly appealing about horror that takes an ordinary situation and gradually reveals just how terribly wrong everything can go.

And honestly, we’re already suspicious of those Airbnb hosts.

There’s Plenty More Where That Came From…

Of course, these are just five of the many films heading to Soho Horror Film Festival this November. With a programme packed with international discoveries, short films, special events and plenty of unexpected surprises, there’s something for just about every kind of horror fan.

Soho Horror Film Festival runs from 20 to 22 November 2026 at Coldharbour Blue Cinema in Brixton, London, with the online Sohome Horror Film Festival following from 26 to 29 November.

Individual tickets, festival passes and online passes are available now.

For the full programme and ticket information, visit www.sohohorrorfest.com.

And if you’re heading along, be sure to let us know which films you’re most looking forward to!