TADFF XIX: HALLOWARRIOR, WHALEFALL Among Full Line-Up For The 2026 Edition
Toronto After Dark Film Festival is back in full swing this year following its announcement. The official roster is here as well, with a total of fourteen feature films and thirty-three genre shorts to round things out.
That means at least ten more features added to the previous four, including Brian Duffield’s Whalefall, and Ben Sottak’s Hallowarrior which just debuted a trailer. If you’re in the area and looking to attend, all you need to know can be found at the official TADFF website.
TORONTO, September 25, 2026: The Toronto After Dark Film Festival (TADFF) has officially unveiled its lineup for its 19th edition of exciting new horror, sci-fi and action films, which will screen from October 14 – 18, 2026 at the Cineplex Scotiabank Theatre (259 Richmond St W) and CineCycle (129 Spadina Ave). Across these five thrilling nights, Toronto audiences will enjoy a fantastic showcase of 14 feature premieres, as well as 33 brilliant genre short films from Canada and around the world.
Single tickets go on sale on September 29, but festival passholders (both Cine-Maniac and All-Nighter tiers) can already begin reserving tickets during an exclusive window from September 25 to September 28.
The festival kicks off with the Canadian Premiere of Brian Duffield’s WHALEFALL. A tense and emotionally-charged survival thriller starring Austin Abrams (RESIDENT EVIL) and Josh Brolin (WEAPONS), the film depicts the harrowing story of a scuba-diver (Abrams) who finds himself swallowed whole by a sperm whale and trapped inside the animal’s stomach. With a dwindling supply of oxygen left in his tank, the young man turns to the nautical and life lessons his father passed on to him in a desperate bid to survive.
Two takes on the intersection of capitalism and body horror highlight the festival’s slate of International Programming: SPECIES (d. Marion Le Corroller, whose 2025 short MELTED DOLL screened at last year’s edition) is an energetic, blood-soaked parable set within the life-or-death world of modern medicine. Edwin’s SLEEP NO MORE follows two siblings travelling to Jakarta to investigate the grisly death of their mother while she was working at an old wig factory – only to discover that her “accident” was not an isolated incident.
Toronto After Dark’s Friday Vampire Night pairs the previously announced I LOVE PARIS with the Canadian Premiere of RED SNOW: Ilja Rautsi’s holiday ho-ho-horror about an angsty teen whose vampire fantasies are fractured when a horrifically violent undead creature dressed as Jolly Old St. Nick shows up at her family’s doorstep.
Two films that are punk in both form and ethos, MATAPANKI (d. Diego “Mapache” Fuentes) follows a ground-level superhero whose powers are activated by alcohol; while HALLOWARRIOR finds young Pumpkin (Milly Shapiro from HEREDITARY) on a post-apocalyptic Halloween defending her home from cannibalistic intruders.
Representing the festival’s Canadian Programming, Sam Scott’s TURN IT UP! offers the story of a struggling indie band turning to a cursed melody for fame, unaware that the melody opens up a dangerous portal between dimensions; and NO LONGER HUMANS (directed by Toronto filmmaker Luca D’Andrea) is a queer coming-of-age love story about a world in which death no longer exists. Shot on 16mm film, D’Andrea’s daring debut feature will be making its North American Premiere in the festival’s Late Night Programme.
Canadian Filmmaking will be further represented across Toronto After Dark’s popular short film slate, which pairs a Canadian short with all feature films across the festival and includes dedicated sidebars for both Canadian and International selections. This year’s festival features 33 short films, including the buzzy MAN EATING PUSSY: an Audience Award Winner at Fantasia, directed by Emily Lawson and starring Grace Glowicki.
The lineup also features the Ontario Premieres of THE FOX (d. Dario Russo) and DRAG (d. Raviv Ullman and Greg Yagolnitzer). In THE FOX, a cunning fox (voiced by Olivia Colman) convinces an impressionable foxhunter (Jai Courtney) to turn his wife (Emily Browning) into the foxhunter’s idea of the perfect woman: a dark folktale built around the age old adage “be careful what you wish for”.
And in DRAG, two sisters (Lizzy Caplan and Lucy DeVito) break into the secluded home of a wealthy artist (John Stamos) for a simple little robbery. When one of the sisters quickly throws out her back, escape becomes an immovable obstacle for the feuding duo – made worse when the artist comes home early!
Previously announced films include: 5 MORE MINUTES, FROGMAN RETURNS, I LOVE PARIS and MY LOVE FOR YOU IS DEEP, BUT THE DEVIL LOVES ME DEEPER.
The 19th edition also marks an inaugural partnership between the festival and its new lead sponsor ScareScore. ScareScore is building the world’s first biometric reaction platform for entertainment. Connecting to the smartwatch audiences already wear, ScareScore measures physical reactions as they happen and transforms them into a personal score across movies, streaming, attractions, and adrenaline experiences that they can share, compare, and compete against friends with! Select Toronto After Dark films will be ScareScore enabled.
This year’s festival will also see the return of its official OPENING NIGHT PARTY, which will be held at the festival’s preferred bar Escape Manor (383 King St. W: just a few blocks away from the festival screening venues). Entry will be FREE for Toronto After Dark passholders.
And the festival’s late-night CineCycle Programming has been made possible this year thanks to the support of Branded to Film (B2F), Kingston’s hyperlocal studio for high-concept genre filmmaking, which provides resources, crew and producer support for independent filmmakers shooting in the region.
2026 Toronto After Dark Lineup:
Feature Films
5 MORE MINUTES (5 MINUTOS MÁS) | Javier Ruiz Caldera | Spain
Canadian Premiere
DRAG | Raviv Ullman, Greg Yagolnitzer | USA
Ontario Premiere
THE FOX | Dario Russo | Australia
Ontario Premiere
FROGMAN RETURNS | Anthony Cousins | USA
Ontario Premiere
HALLOWARRIOR | Ben Sottak | USA
Canadian Premiere
I LOVE PARIS | Nicky Murphy | Australia, France
Toronto Premiere
RED SNOW (PUNAISTA LUNTA) | Ilja Rautsi | Finland
Canadian Premiere
SLEEP NO MORE (MONSTER PABRIK RAMBUT) | Edwin | Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Germany, France
Ontario Premiere
SPECIES (SANGUINE) | Marion Le Corroller | France
Ontario Premiere
WHALEFALL | Brian Duffield | USA
Canadian Premiere
Feature Films – Late Night Programme
MATAPANKI | Diego “Mapache” Fuentes | Chile
Toronto Premiere
MY LOVE FOR YOU IS DEEP BUT THE DEVIL LOVES ME DEEPER | Casey Donahue | USA
World Premiere
NO LONGER HUMANS | Luca D’Andrea | Canada
North American Premiere
Short Films
1-800-TIME-TRAVEL | Michael Nusair | Canada
A MIGHTY POISON | Kyle Marchen | Canada
ACCISMUS | Brandy Marien | Canada
BAD TOOTH | M. Dara Alavi | Canada
BLOOD SWEAT & TEARS | Spencer Glassman | Canada
THE CURSE OF DANNY RIZZO | Ievy Stamatov | Canada
THE DESCENDANT | Ashley Welling | USA
THE DOGLEG (WIRAŹ) | Piotr Szubra | Poland
THE DOUBLE | Aljosha Klimov, Misha Sprits, Mitya Kokorin | Germany, Canada
FESTER | Max Parr | Canada
FREQUENCY | Lauren Andrews | Canada
GRIM VS GREYS | Austin Birtch | Canada
HABITUATION | Oskar Johansson | Sweden
ICE COLD BEER | Devon Mussett, Joey Lopez | Canada
IT HELPS | J. Zachary Thurman | USA
LOOP (最後一單) | Chuan Lin | Taiwan
MAN EATING PUSSY | Emily Lawson | Canada, USA
MEATMYLK | Lucy Luscombe | United Kingdom
MELT MUSIC | Evan Rivard | Canada
MOIRA | Anastasia Mischenko | France
MY DINNER WITH VICTOR | Andrew Chiu | Hong Kong, Canada
THE OLD GODS | Noah Van Buhren | Canada
PAPER CUTS | Ross Ozarka, Alice Gatland | New Zealand
PERENNIAL | Eric Kingsbury | Canada
PICK IT TILL IT BLEEDS | Christina Dovolis, Tavis Putnam | Canada
THE PORTRAIT | Julia Hogg | Canada
PURGE | Andrew Hamilton | Canada
RUN FROM IT | Kory Kongsommart, Jun Jeung | Canada
SHITTING A PENIS | Sam Morgan | Canada
SLEEP THROUGH SUMMER | Erin Mick | Canada
SOMETHING BORROWED | Findlay Ironside | Canada
STUCK (VAST) | Jan van Gorkum | Netherlands
THE THING INSIDE HER | Jacki Gunn and Della Haddock | Canada
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