The 21st Haapsalu Horror & Fantasy Film Festival, the largest genre festival in the Baltics, has officially released its full 2026 programme.

Running from April 30 to May 2, the festival will showcase 35 feature-length films from 25 countries—including standout entries from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, and Kazakhstan—alongside curated short film screenings and special events.

The festival kicks off with Finnish director Hanna Bergholm’s highly anticipated psychological horror-thriller Nightborn, introduced by screenwriter Ilja Rautsi. Following her global hit Hatching, Bergholm returns with a gripping, terrifying modern fairy tale about the darker side of unconditional maternal love, starring Seidi Haarla and Rupert Grint.

HÕFF welcomes several international guests this year, including directors Michael Panduro, Michael Kunov, and Kasper Juhl presenting the Danish horror anthology Adorable Humans. Also joining Haapsalu is Pella Kågerman, co-director of the Swedish dystopian sci-fi Egghead Republic.

The festival reaches its climax with the closing film, Oleksiy Taranenko’s The Dam. In this high-octane B-movie style zombie actioner dedicated to the Ukrainian resistance, soldiers discover a hidden bunker beneath the drained Kakhovka reservoir. Inside lies a nightmare: a legion of zombified Russian soldiers—remnants of secret Cold War-era human experiments.

The screening will be preceded by HÕFF’s traditional charity auction of film memorabilia, with all proceeds donated to support Ukraine.

This year's international selection includes several "best of the best" films from the global festival circuit:

• SXSW Favorites: The Japanese ghost story Never After Dark (dir. Dave Boyle), winner of the SXSW Midnighter Audience Award, and Damian McCarthy’s chilling Irish folk horror Hokum.
• Sundance Hits: Two of the year's most talked-at body horror entries: Natalie Erika James’ Saccharine (Australia) and the outrageous sci-fi horror-comedy Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant by New Zealand duo Thunderlips.
• Cult Late-Night Screening: The shocking horror-comedy Fuck My Son! — the breakout hit of the Black Nights Film Festival's "Midnight Shivers" programme — will screen at 01:30 AM on Sunday.

Special Programmes and Retrospectives

• Kazakh Action Wave: HÕFF highlights the raw energy and social subtext of new Kazakh cinema, featuring Darkhan Tulegenov’s Zhazha and Aitore Zholdaskali’s Sicko.

• The Pope of B-Movies: Celebrating the centenary of the legendary Roger Corman, the festival will screen the 1983 classic Deathstalker. Steven Kostanski’s 2025 reimagining of the film will also be screened in the festival's For Freaks section.

• Restored Classics: The retro programme features meticulously restored masterpieces — Aloizs Brenčs’ crime thriller Checkmate to the Queen of Diamonds, Juliusz Machulski’s Polish cult hit Sexmission, and Karel Zeman’s visual marvel A Journey to the Beginning of Time.

The Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival (HÕFF) runs from April 30 to May 2.

Tickets are on sale now.

Ticket Information:

• General Admission: €9 (€6 discount)
• Opening Ceremony & Film: €25 (€20 discount)