‘Lesions’ Heads to Tubi FrightFest After Historic Nevermore Awards Sweep

For Codey Wilson, the violence at the heart of Lesions began somewhere far more personal than a masked figure at the door. His debut feature takes the familiar architecture of home-invasion horror and builds around it a story of illness, dependency and the frightening possibility of becoming unrecognisable to somebody you love. Following an award-winning festival run in the US, the film is now heading to London for Tubi FrightFest 2026.

Lesions centres on Houston, played by Alexander McPherson, and Lise, played by Elsa Ames, a couple whose relationship is already under considerable strain when Houston receives a diagnosis of an incurable neurological condition. Offered an experimental treatment, the pair withdraw to an isolated mountain home, hoping to stabilise both his health and their fractured marriage.

That seclusion eventually becomes dangerous. As Houston’s physical and emotional state grows increasingly unpredictable, masked killers arrive and the couple are forced into a violent fight for survival. Audrey Deitz also stars as Blue.

Wilson has described Lesions as being inspired by his own MS diagnosis, although he is not yet discussing the specifics publicly. The filmmaker has spoken instead about the fears surrounding that experience, particularly his anxiety that his illness might make him a burden to his wife as she cared for him.

‘I wanted this film to feel like a rock-and-roll love letter to the people who look after us, something ominous enough to say something real about chronic illness, but with enough heart underneath to make you want to fight for the person you love,’ Wilson said.

It is a strikingly vulnerable starting point for a film involving masked attackers and escalating physical violence. Or maybe those ingredients are not as far removed from one another as they first seem. Wilson uses the machinery of home-invasion cinema to give a physical presence to anxieties that are considerably harder to see, with humour, hypnotic imagery and heavy-metal energy also forming part of the film’s approach.

The debut has already attracted attention on the festival circuit. Lesions screened at Panic Fest earlier this year and made history at the Nevermore Film Festival, becoming the first film in the event’s 27 years to sweep all four of its top jury awards. Critics have also responded to the collision between its relationship drama and increasingly aggressive genre elements, with Kat Hughes of The Hollywood News praising Wilson’s balance of ‘emotional heft and harrowing home invasion’.

Executive produced by Michael Robbins of RobbinsCage, Lesions arrives in London with its Nevermore sweep behind it and Wilson’s deeply personal inspiration sitting beneath the bloodshed.

Lesions screens as an Official Selection at Tubi FrightFest 2026, which runs in London from 27 to 31 August. Get your tickets here: Frightfest.co.uk/