Our Most Anticipated Thriller/Horror Movies at the 2026 London Film Festival
From Artificial to The Face of Horror
by Alex Kaan 7 October 2026
Madman Entertainment
Returning in its 70th edition, the BFI London Film Festival has a characteristically crowded line-up of major awards contenders and buzzy new titles, and we’re rounding up the most exciting thriller, horror, and genre films. From a highly anticipated sequel to a Kaiju epic (Godzilla Minus Zero) to a queer small-town mystery drama with Joe Locke (Black Church Bay), from the latest Martin McDonagh darkly comic thriller (Wild Horse Nine) to a Léa Seydoux-led French body horror thriller from the Oscar-winning co-writer of Anatomy of a Fall, these are the movies you won’t want to miss at Britain’s biggest film festival.
The BFI London Film Festival runs from October 7th to 18th in London and around the UK.
Artificial
Neon
Luca Guadagnino (Challengers, Bones and All) looks to Silicon Valley and ChatGPT in this eerily topical tale of OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman (Andrew Garfield). The darkly comic tech thriller’s stacked supporting cast includes Monica Barbaro, Cooper Hoffman, and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk.
The Face of Horror
Embankment Films
Adapting the Japanese ghost story Yotsuya Kaidan for medieval England, the latest from Anna Biller (The Love Witch) follows a wronged woman (Kristine Froseth) as she plots her revenge on her devious knight husband (Jonah Hauer-King) in this gory Hammer Horror-esque fable.
Bunker
Embankment Films
When a mysterious billionaire (Paul Dano) asks him to design an apocalypse-proof luxury bunker for the uber-rich, “starchitect” Miguel’s (Javier Bardem) marriage to literary agent Sofia (Penélope Cruz) is put to the test. Real-life partners Bardem and Cruz star in this topical morality thriller from Oscar-winning writer-director Florian Zeller (The Father).
Ink
StudioCanal
Danny Boyle reteams with his 28 Years Later villain Jack O’Connell for this biographical period thriller about the 1969 acquisition of The Sun by media mogul Rupert Murdoch (the patriarch of the real family that inspired Succession) and the subsequent rise of British tabloid journalism. Guy Pearce and Claire Foy also star.
Wild Horse Nine
StudioCanal
The Banshees of Inisherin writer-director Martin McDonagh returns with a black comedy political thriller about two CIA officers (Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich) sent by their bureau chief (Steve Buscemi) to Easter Island, where they wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies.
Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother
Amazon MGM Studios
In this stylish samurai-coded action thriller, a devoutly religious hitman’s (two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali) life is turned upside down when his wife dies. As dangerous forces close in on him, he embarks on a desperate journey to protect his children.
The Fox
Madman Entertainment
In this absurdist, darkly comic folk tale, an affable foxhunter (Jai Courtney) sees his life upended when his fiancée (Emily Browning) cheats on him. Distraught, he falls under the spell of a deceptive talking fox (Olivia Colman) who hatches a plan to magically turn her into the perfect woman. The late Sam Neill co-stars in a voice role.
Primetime
Amazon MGM Studios
A24’s dark psychological thriller sees Robert Pattinson play Chris Hansen, the host of Dateline’s controversial reality series To Catch a Predator. Phoebe Bridgers and Skyler Gisondo also star, while Ari Aster (Hereditary) produces.
Black Church Bay
Amazon MGM Studios
In this queer mystery drama, the disappearance of an openly-gay sixth form student sends ripples throughout a sleepy Welsh coastal village and threatens to expose long-buried secrets. Tom Cullen and Heartstopper’s Joe Locke star.
The Blood Countess
Strand Releasing
From the writer of The Piano Teacher and starring Isabelle Huppert, this lesbian vampire horror comedy sees avant-garde auteur Ulrike Ottinger transport real-life 16th-century alleged serial killer (and rumoured bloodsucker) Elizabeth Báthory to modern-day Vienna.
Godzilla Minus Zero
Toho
In this sequel to the 2023 kaiju epic Godzilla Minus One, a critical and commercial hit which took home the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, the titular monster sets his sights on America. Stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe return in what will be the first-ever Japanese production filmed for IMAX.
Hot Spot
Focus Features
Set in a near-future society ruled by sentient AI, a private eye investigates a murder case only to discover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord. Noomi Rapace and Andrzej Konopka star in the sci-fi thriller from The Lure director Agnieszka Smoczyńska.
Inherit
GDH 559 Co
In this psychological thriller from Thai horror filmmaker Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter, The Medium), a wealthy family discover the horrific secret behind their grandmother’s (Davika Hoorne) striking beauty and youth: she is possessed by a centipede demon, and it wants a new host.
Ken Russell’s The Devils
GDH 559 Co
One of the most controversial and censored films of all time, this 1971 horror drama follows a sexually repressed nun (Vanessa Redgrave) who incites a witchcraft trial in a 17th-century Catholic Church. Warner Bros. Clockwork is finally releasing a 114-minute 4K version billed as “The Director’s Cut”.
Nightborn
Shudder
Saga (Seidi Haarla) and her British husband Jon (Rupert Grint) move to a remote house in the Finnish woodlands while planning to start a family. But when their child is born, Saga suspects that something is terribly wrong.
The Unknown
Pathé
In this psychological body horror directed by the Oscar-winning co-writer of Anatomy of a Fall, a Parisian photographer (Niels Schneider) finds his life irreversibly changed after encountering an entity that makes its victims swap bodies after sex, forcing him to live as a German actress (Léa Seydoux).