Vancouver Horror Show 2026: Full Lineup Announced. YAGA, ANCESTRAL BEASTS, TALKING TO A STRANGER & More

VANCOUVER HORROR SHOW® UNVEILS SECOND WAVE OF PROGRAMMING LED BY WESTERN CANADIAN PREMIERE OF CRAVE ORIGINAL YAGA AND SPECIAL GUESTS

 

Creator and showrunner Kat Sandler, director Rachel Talalay and executive producer Mackenzie Donaldson will attend a special screening of the first two episodes; the festival’s second wave also brings new film premieres and special guests

 

The Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival® has announced a new wave of films, series programming and special guests for its ninth edition, taking place October 14-18, 2026 in downtown Vancouver. Among the highlights is the Western Canadian premiere of the Crave Original series YAGA, starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Noah Reid, Clark Backo and Hudson Williams. VHS will screen the first two episodes ahead of the series’ October 23 debut, followed by a Q&A with special guests including creator and showrunner Kat Sandler, director Rachel Talalay and executive producer Mackenzie Donaldson of Blink49 Studios.

 

Acclaimed genre director Adrián García Bogliano, filmmakers Casey Walker, Michael Gabriele, and Tim Riedel as well as actors Morgan Holmstrom (The Order), Leenah Robinson (1923), Nat Boltt (Riverdale) and Gigi Saul Guerrero are among the talent confirmed to attend. Newly announced programming includes the Canadian premieres of Talking to a Stranger and Spanish folk-horror They Always Come at Night, alongside BC premieres of Danny Devito produced, Drag, starring Lizzy Caplan, Lucy DeVito and John Stamos; SXSW selection Imposters, starring Jessica Rothe; Fantasia audience-award winner Unholy Night; Métis psychological horror Ancestral Beasts; and found-footage creature feature Frogman Returns.

 

The festival has also announced Inside the Casting Room: Horror Edition, a live, practical panel featuring casting directors Monika Dalman, Errin Lally and Annalese Tilling.

 

SECOND WAVE PROGRAMMING LINEUP:

 

YAGA, Western Canadian Premiere

 

Created, and written by Kat Sandler

Starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Noah Reid, Clark Backo and Hudson Williams

 

Starring Noah Reid (Schitt's Creek), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix), Clark Backo (Letterkenny) and Hudson Williams (Heated Rivalry), the Crave Original mystery thriller is based on Kat Sandler’s acclaimed play and produced by Blink49 Studios and Front Street Pictures.

 

YAGA follows Rapp (Reid), a private investigator who arrives in the small coastal town of Whittock to investigate the disappearance of a young heir to a powerful fishery, Henry Park (Williams). He soon finds himself at odds with an apprehensive local detective, Carson (Backo), a charismatic university professor with a taste for younger men, Katherine (Moss), and a labyrinth of enigmatic suspects, secret lives and ancient magic.

 

Filmed on Vancouver Island, YAGA brings a distinctly BC connection to its coastal setting and showcases the region’s screen talent. VHS will screen the first two episodes ahead of the series’ October 23 debut on Crave, followed by a Q&A with special guests.

 

YAGA is produced by Blink49 Studios and Front Street Pictures in partnership with Crave, co-directors are David Frazee and Rachel Talalay. The series is executive produced by Mackenzie Donaldson, Andrew Miller and Carrie-Anne Moss and produced by Charles Cooper.

 

Creator and showrunner Kat Sandler, executive producer Mackenzie Donaldson (Blink49 Studios) and director Rachel Talalay in attendance

 

FEATURE FILMS:

 

REMNANT, Canadian Premiere

 

Directed by Ken Kabatoff / Starring Kim Coates, Talisa Mae Stewart, Nat Boltt, Megan Peta Hill

 

Talisa Mae Stewart stars as Anna, a young paramedic who inherits her family home after the mysterious death of her mother, played by Nat Boltt. It’s the last thing Anna wants. Years earlier, Anna’s father fled their hometown after a horrific triple murder, while her mother stayed behind, swearing his innocence. When Anna returns and begins suffering terrifying hallucinations, she realizes her parents’ stories of demonic forces are true. Now she must escape the wicked entity responsible for her family’s tragic past.

 

Director Ken Kabatoff and actor Nat Boltt in attendance

 

 

DRAG, BC Premiere

 

Written and directed by Raviv Ullman and Greg Yagolnitzer / Starring Lizzy Caplan, Lucy DeVito, John Stamos and Christine Ko

 

When two sisters break into an isolated home, their supposedly simple robbery becomes a nightmare after one throws out her back and is left immobilized. With the homeowner due to return, their escape grows stranger, bloodier and more unhinged by the minute. 

 

Emmy-nominated Lizzy Caplan (Mean Girls), Lucy DeVito, John Stamos (Full House) and Christine Ko star in this wickedly funny home-invasion thriller produced by Danny DeVito. Fresh from its world premiere in SXSW’s prestigious Midnighter programme, Drag marks the feature directorial debut of Raviv Ullman and Greg Yagolnitzer.

 

 

ANCESTRAL BEASTS, BC Premiere

 

Written and directed by Tim Riedel / Starring Morgan Holmstrom, Darla Contois and Asivak Koostachin

 

A Métis woman retreats to her family's rural home to rebuild her life, only to discover a lethal presence that forces her to decide between what she is willing to sacrifice and what she must protect.

 

Ancestral Beasts celebrated its world premiere at the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival.

 

Director Tim Riedel and actor Morgan Holmstrom in attendance

 

 

IMPOSTERS, BC Premiere

 

Written and directed by Caleb J. Phillips / Starring Jessica Rothe, Charlie Barnett and Yul Vazquez

 

After Marie and Paul’s infant son is taken, grief threatens to destroy what remains of their family. When Marie discovers a mysterious way to bring him back, she refuses to question the impossible — but Paul becomes increasingly convinced that whatever she returned with is not their child. As love gives way to suspicion, the couple is pulled into a mind-bending nightmare where trusting the wrong reality could cost them everything.

 

Fresh from its premiere in SXSW’s Midnighter programme, Imposters transforms a parent’s worst nightmare into a gripping exploration of grief, denial and the terrifying lengths we will go to reclaim what we have lost. Happy Death Day star Jessica Rothe delivers one of her most powerful performances yet alongside Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll, The Acolyte) and Yul Vazquez (Severance, The Outsider) in this haunting, reality-bending sci-fi thriller.

 

 

UNHOLY NIGHT, BC Premiere

 

Written and directed by Michael Gabriele

Starring Marc Bendavid, Shailene Garnett and Jacqueline Robbins

 

Dark Matter star Marc Bendavid leads Shailene Garnett (Diggstown) and Jacqueline Robbins in this blood-soaked Christmas horror comedy that puts a wickedly entertaining spin on the holiday from hell.

 

Christmas Eve is already tense when Gino’s family dinner receives an unexpected guest: his recently deceased grandmother, back from the grave and ready to settle old scores. As the festivities descend into undead chaos, Gino must protect his loved ones from a murderous matriarch determined to make this their last Christmas together.

 

Winner of the Gold Audience Award for Best Canadian Feature at the Fantasia International Film Festival, Unholy Night delivers razor-sharp family comedy, heartfelt holiday dysfunction and gloriously gruesome horror in one wildly entertaining package.

 

Director Michael Gabriele in attendance

 

 

TALKING TO A STRANGER, Canadian Premiere

 

Written and directed by Adrián García Bogliano / Starring Gigi Saul Guerrero, Eugenio Rubio and Yago Andreu Sandoval

 

Filmmaker and actor Gigi Saul Guerrero (Bingo Hell, V/H/S/85) takes on her first leading feature role in this intimate supernatural nightmare from acclaimed genre director Adrián García Bogliano (Late Phases, Here Comes the Devil).

 

After losing her young son in a tragic fire, Patricia struggles to hold herself — and her family — together. When a sinister presence begins visiting her in the form of the boy she lost, her desperate longing gives way to a terrifying uncertainty: has her son truly returned, or has something found a way to weaponize her grief?

 

The film world premiered in the prestigious Big Screen Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

 

Director Adrián García Bogliano and Actor Gigi Saul Guerrero in attendance

 

 

THEY ALWAYS COME AT NIGHT, Canadian Premiere

 

Written and directed by Víctor Català / Starring Miguel Lago Casal

 

Rooted in the chilling Galician legend of the Santa Compaña — a spectral procession of the dead — They Always Come at Night is an atmospheric Spanish folk-horror tale in which history itself comes knocking.

 

Galicia, 1976. On All Souls’ Night, a tense family gathering at an isolated country house is interrupted by frantic calls from a neighbour who insists that hooded figures are emerging from the mist. When the procession descends from the woods and the evening becomes a ritualistic siege, a dark secret buried since the Spanish Civil War resurfaces to collect a long-overdue debt.

 

Set in the uneasy aftermath of Franco’s dictatorship, Víctor Català’s haunting feature debut combines supernatural terror, historical reckoning and suffocating domestic tension to confront the guilt one generation leaves behind for the next. The film will make its Canadian premiere at VHS.

 

 

FROGMAN RETURNS, BC Premiere

 

Directed by Anthony Cousins / Starring Nathan Tymoshuk, Ekko Morales and Chelsey Grant

 

The Frogman is back — and Loveland is about to get a whole lot messier.

 

Dallas and Amy return to Ohio determined to finish what they started. Armed with cameras and a new web series, they plunge back into the legend — only to discover that Frogman isn’t finished with them either.

 

Director Anthony Cousins takes his cult found-footage creature feature to wild new heights, expanding the mythology with bigger scares, gloriously gruesome practical effects and even more cryptid chaos.

 

 

NEW WAVE INDUSTRY PROGRAMMING & SPECIAL EVENTS:

 

Inside The Casting Room: Horror Edition

This live, practical panel takes audiences inside the casting process with casting directors Monika Dalman, Errin Lally and Annalese Tilling. Using prepared self-tapes from actors, they will break down what immediately captures their attention, what gets in the way, where they see untapped potential and how they approach giving redirects.

 

The actors will then apply those notes and perform the scenes again, giving audiences a rare before-and-after look at how a redirect can unlock a performance — and change the way casting sees an actor.

 

For actors, it’s an invaluable opportunity to better understand what happens on the other side of the camera and how to approach adjustments with greater confidence. For writers, directors and producers, it offers practical tools for approaching casting breakdowns with greater intention, identifying what is truly essential to a role and communicating those needs effectively to both casting professionals and the talent who can make their projects soar.

 

Presented by Creative BC. Supported by UBCP/ACTRA.

 

 

VHS SHORTS: INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM PROGRAMMES

 

VHS’s 2026 shorts program brings together filmmakers from Canada, the United States, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, Mexico, Australia, the Netherlands, Japan, the United Kingdom and Brazil across five curated blocks, each named for an iconic line from horror history: “Molly, You in Danger, Girl”, “I See Dead People”, “Wouldst Thou Like to Live Deliciously?”, “We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes” and “Sometimes Dead Is Better”.

 

Highlights include Kissyfoot, starring Emmy-nominated Dale Dickey (Widow’s Bay, Winter’s Bone) and Emily Rios (Breaking Bad, Snowfall), and Heirlooms, led by Chloe Van Landschoot of FROM. Also screening is the award-winning Blindsided, written and directed by P. Patrick Hogan, featuring an all-low-vision cast that places audiences in the perspective of a blind schoolteacher confronting a monstrous alien predator using only the sounds around her; Tina and the Fly from Barrett Lesly Shuler; VHS alum Brenna Goodwin returns with Start the Show; and Peabody Award-winning and WGA Award-nominated writer Arabella Anderson also returns to the festival with The Craving, screening ahead of Drag.

 

The festival’s dedicated student showcase, “We Are the Weirdos, Mister”, celebrates the next generation of genre filmmakers with shorts from Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Kazakhstan and Hungary.

 

 

CONFIRMED SPECIAL GUESTS IN ATTENDANCE:

 

VHS will welcome an exciting lineup of filmmakers and performers to this year’s festival, giving audiences the opportunity to hear directly from the artists behind some of the most distinctive work in contemporary genre film.

 

Kat Sandler — Creator and showrunner, YAGA

Rachel Talalay — Director, YAGA

Mackenzie Donaldson (Blink49 Studios) — Executive producer, YAGA

Adrián García Bogliano (Late Phases, Here Comes the Devil, Cold Sweat) — Director, Talking to a Stranger

Nat Boltt (Riverdale, District 9, Holy Days) — Actor, Remnant

Michael Gabriele (Get Away, Room Tone) — Director, Unholy Night

Gigi Saul Guerrero (Culture Shock, V/H/S/85, Satanic Hispanics) — Actor, Talking to a Stranger

Morgan Holmstrom (Outlander, Day of the Dead, The Order) — Actor, Ancestral Beasts

Ken Kabatoff (The Doukhobor, Travelers) — Director, Remnant

Tim Riedel (Jackstones) — Director, Ancestral Beasts

Leenah Robinson (1923, 40 Acres) — Actor, Ithaqua

Casey Walker (In a Violent Nature, The Void) — Director, Ithaqua

 

 

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED FILMS & PROGRAMS INCLUDE:

 

A 19th anniversary screening of Trick ’r Treat with acclaimed writer and director Michael Dougherty (Krampus, Godzilla: King of the Monsters) in attendance. The screening event will feature an all-new 4K restoration of Season’s Greetings, Dougherty’s original animated short film. Also featured is the World Premiere of Encryption, an inventive sci-fi mystery from award-winning filmmaker Brayden DeMorest-Purdy, Western Canadian Premiere of Sleep No More, an Indonesian body-horror nightmare from acclaimed filmmaker Edwin and British Columbia premieres of Ithaqua, Hammer Films’ chilling return to creature horror starring Luke Hemsworth, and The Glorious Dead, the latest apocalyptic vision from celebrated DIY filmmaking team the Adams Family.

 

On the programming side, an in-depth In Conversation with Michael Dougherty; The First Five Minutes of Horror, featuring filmmakers Zach Lipovsky (Final Destination Bloodlines), Eli Craig (Clown in a Cornfield) and Rachel Talalay (YAGA) and editor Greg Ng (Backrooms); Indie Horror Distribution: From Festival Buzz to Theatrical Release, featuring producers Sean Harris Oliver (Hunting Matthew Nichols) and Kurtis David Harder (Influencers); as well as the return of VHS’s Live Table Read Series, with Karen Lam (Armageddon Road) and Dennis Heaton (Murder in a Small Town) among the participating industry panelists.

 

ABOUT VHS

 

Founded in 2018, the Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival (VHS) is a Canadian Screen Award-qualifying film festival and registered charitable organization dedicated to bold genre storytelling and the filmmakers, screenwriters and artists who bring it to life. Named one of the “90 Best Genre Film Festivals on Earth” by Dread Central, VHS ranks among FilmFreeway’s 20 most popular horror festivals worldwide.

 

VHS has screened hundreds of films for thousands of attendees including the Vancouver premiere of Damien Leone’s Terrifier 2, the Canadian theatrical premiere of V/H/S/85, as well as a 30th-anniversary celebration of Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight featuring stars William Sadler and Sherrie Rose, producers Gil Adler and Alan Katz, and MastersFX founder Todd Masters.

 

The festival has hosted and moderated filmmaker Q&As for special advance screenings of major genre releases, including Longlegs with director Osgood Perkins and Clown in a Cornfield with director Eli Craig.

 

Guests and industry participants have included Orphan Black co-creator Graeme Manson, Final Destination Bloodlines director Zach Lipovsky, filmmakers Vincenzo Natali, Gigi Saul Guerrero and Karen Lam, writer-showrunner Dennis Heaton and actors Aleks Paunovic and Richard Harmon, among many others.

 

Through its programming and industry initiatives, VHS works to strengthen Western Canada’s genre-film ecosystem and establish Vancouver as a destination for filmmakers, industry professionals and audiences who share a passion for genre storytelling.

 

VHS returns to downtown Vancouver for its ninth edition, October 14–18, 2026.