NEWS: Early Bird passes for Mayhem 2026 will go on sale at midday on Mon 27 July at the price of £95. Passes give you access to all festival screenings and events. Early Bird lasts until 12pm on Mon 10 August. After that time, festival passes will be available at the full price of £105.

Mayhem wants your short films! filmfreeway.com/MayhemFilmFe...

Also thinking maybe we should start playing WWE entrance music for out guests as they approach the stage.

Now the dust has settled a little, a big thanks to everyone who came to Mayhem this year, especially our fantastic guests. Loved having so many terrific Q&As, and hoping very much to see all these filmmakers back at the festival in the future.

Great new folk horror THE SEVERED SUN is playing at @broadwaycinema.bsky.social on Monday 29th September at 6.30pm with a special guest Q&A - more info and tickets here: www.broadway.org.uk/whats-on/fil...

Teaser trailer for THE OLD WOMAN WITH THE KNIFE, screening as part of our opening night on 16th October. An ageing assassin (a brilliant Lee Hye-young) battles to keep her place in the hired killer hierarchy when confronted by the arrival of a new rookie.

Trailer for Toshiaki Toyoda’s TRANSCENDING DIMENSIONS, a visual feast of a sci-fi in which a hitman heads to a religious facility in search of a missing monk, and ends up encountering a sorcerer and defying the space-time continuum. Screens at Mayhem on 17th October

And we will close things out with the also previously announced DEAD BY DAWN by Dawid Torrone.

We’ll start our last evening with the previously announced PORTAL TO HELL by director Woody Bess.

HERESY will be paired with the UK Premiere of Kier-La Janisse’s THE OCCUPANT OF THE ROOM, in which a schoolteacher spends a restless night in a hotel in the Alps. Kier-La Janisse will join us for a post-screening Q&A. We’ll then settle in for our second Short Film Showcase.

We’ll then delve into a double bill featuring Didier Konings’ folk horror HERESY (WITTE WIEVEN) in which a persecuted young woman enters the woods and begins to find a new faith in dark powers.

We’ll open the last day of the festival with Mercedes Bryce Morgan’s violent BONE LAKE in which a couple’s romantic getaway is interrupted when their gorgeous remote rental appears to have been double-booked.

We will close the day with a screening of Paul W. S. Anderson’s 1997 space horror sci-fi EVENT HORIZON in which a group of astronauts are sent to investigate and rescue a starship that’s mysteriously gone missing.

Saturday evening will start with the previously announced new mind-bending sci-fi from Mayhem alumni Ben Wheatley, BULK, with both Ben Wheatley and producer Andy Starke joining us to present the film and take part in a post-screening Q&A.

We’ll then head to Texas for Paul Gandersman & Peter S. Hall’s MAN FINDS TAPE, in which a brother and sister team up to investigate strange happenings in their hometown - a hair-raising new entry in the found footage genre. We’ll then settle into our first Short Film Showcase.

We’ll open Saturday 18 October with the UK Premiere of Yuriyan Retriever’s MAG MAG, an astonishing and statement debut that borrows from Takashi Miike, Sion Sono and Hitoshi Matsumoto to create a fresh new take on J-horror that will truly get under your skin.

We will round off Friday night with the also previously announced REDUX REDUX from directing duo Kevin & Matthew McManus, a pulse-pounding sci-fi action.

We’ll move into the evening with the previously announced new film from Mayhem alumni Marc Price, the high octane THE ARBITER. Joining director Marc Price and cast member Michael Geary for a post-screening Q&A will be additional cast members Georgina Leonidas and Jasmine Sumner.

Next up will be Toshiaki Toyoda’s TRANSCENDING DIMENSIONS, a visual feast of a sci-fi in which a hitman heads to a religious facility in search of a missing monk, and ends up encountering a sorcerer and defying the space-time continuum.

Friday 17 October sees day 2 of the festival, which will open with the previously announced CHESS OF THE WIND, Mohammad Reza Aslani’s Iranian masterpiece from 1976.

Our opening night will close with Min Kyu-dong’s THE OLD WOMAN WITH THE KNIFE, a fast-paced, action-packed Korean thriller in which an older assassin discovers she has more in common than she thought with a rebellious young apprentice.

We'll open on Thu 16 Oct with the UK Premiere of John Minton’s GAME , starring Sleaford Mods’ front man Jason Williamson and Marc Bessant - a nail-biting close proximity cat and mouse thriller. Members of the cast and crew, will join us for a post-screening Q&A.

With just a month to go before our 21st edition takes place, we're excited to reveal this year’s full festival line-up! www.mayhemfilmfestival.com/news/2025/09... A very limited amount of Full Festival Passes are still available. Tickets for individual films are on sale from Fri 19 Sept at 12pm.

We're also excited to announce that director Marc Price will return to the festival to present the previously announced THE ARBITER alongside cast member Michael Geary.

Rounding up this second wave of announcements is Kevin and Matthew McManus’s REDUX REDUX which follows a mother travelling through parallel universes to repeatedly kill her daughter’s murderer, and features a breathtaking central performance from Michaela McManus.

Next up is Woody Bess’s PORTAL TO HELL in which a debt collector’s life is turned upside down upon discovering a portal to hell in his local laundromat and accidentally making a deal with a demon to sacrifice three souls in exchange for his neighbour’s.

First up, we are delighted to be presenting BULK, a mind-bending venture in science-fiction from the mind of Ben Wheatley, who will also return to the festival alongside Producer Andy Starke to present the film and take part in a post-screening Q&A.

📣📣 We're excited to bring you a second wave of announcements ahead of our 21st edition! You also only have a handful of days left to take advantage of our Early Bird Pass price which will expire on Sunday so don't miss out!

Finally, we will be presenting a screening of Mohammad Reza Aslani’s 1976 CHESS OF THE WIND. Greed, deception and violence are at the heart of this gorgeous Gothic Iranian masterpiece once banned in Iran and presumed lost for many years.

Next up is Dawid Torrone’s DEAD BY DAWN. Giallo-infused, this eerie cat-and-mouse thriller is a beautifully shot slasher with hints of STAGE FRIGHT, and PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.