For the fourth year in a row, Elements of Madness will officially be covering The Overlook Film Festival and, this year, am joined by EoM Contributor Justin Waldman. This year’s slate of titles includes several we’ve seen, so our recommendation list is a touch different this time around as a mix of review-available titles and ones whose summaries caught our attention.
**Any film with a review will be hyperlinked to the title, so be sure to check back for any and all updates.**
The Overlook Film Festival 2026 takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana from April 9th – 12th, 2026.
Blackout
Official Synopsis:
Charley’s secret is he thinks he’s a werewolf. He can’t remember the things he’s done but the papers report random acts of violence taking place at night in this small upstate hamlet. Now the whole town must rally to find out what is tearing it apart: mistrust, fear, or a monster that comes out at night.
Buddy
Official Synopsis:
From the unique and twisted mind of iconic writer-director Casper Kelly (Too Many Cooks, Yule Log) comes the tale of a courageous girl and her friends who must fight to escape the sinister clutches of a kid’s television show.
A scene from Buddy. Photo Credit: Worry Well Productions. Photo courtesy of The Overlook Film Festival.
Buffet Infinity
Official Synopsis:
Told entirely through a series of fake commercials, Simon Glassman’s cutting-edge creepshow is the story of rival restaurants competing through local TV marketing for their town’s business… and maybe more. What is going on in Westridge County?
Chili Finger
Official Synopsis:
When Jessica Lipki discovers a severed human finger in her bowl of chili, she recognizes an opportunity to seize control of her stagnating life. Jess blackmails the regionally-beloved fast-food chain for $100,000 in return that she and her blissfully ignorant husband, Ron, keep quiet about the incident. Unbeknownst to Jess, her stunt has caught the attention of “the” Blake Junior, the plutocratic founder behind the “Blake Junior’s” food empire. He recruits his ex-marine buddy, Dave, to investigate Jess and discover the truth behind the chili finger…
L-R: Sean Astin and Judy Greer in CHILI FINGER. Photo Credit: Cristina Dunlap. Photo courtesy of The Overlook Film Festival.
Cramps! A Period Piece
Official Synopsis:
In a fanciful technicolor town full of dueling beauty shops, drag queens and midcentury flair, a young woman’s quest to defy her family is upended when her menstrual cramps manifest themselves as actual monsters. At once gory and campy, Overlook alum (and previous Grand Jury Prize winner) Brooke H. Cellars makes their feature debut with a film that’s as fun as it is horrific.
A still from CRAMPS! A PERIOD PIECE. Photo courtesy of The Overlook Film Festival.
Drag
Official Synopsis:
Two sisters with a contentious relationship decide to rob a rural home in upstate New York. The simple robbery turns into a nightmare when one of them throws out her back and becomes immobilized on the second floor. The night spirals out of control as they embark on a painful journey to make it out before the homeowner returns.
A scene in DRAG. Photo Credit: Ben Goodman. Photo courtesy of The Overlook Film Festival.
Exit 8
Official Synopsis:
Based on the global hit eponymous video game created by KOTAKE CREATE. A man trapped in an endless sterile subway passageway sets out to find Exit 8. The rules of his quest are simple: do not overlook anything out of the ordinary. If you discover an anomaly, turn back immediately. If you don’t, carry on. Then leave from Exit 8. But even a single oversight will send him back to the beginning. Will he ever reach his goal and escape this infinite corridor?
Family Movie
Official Synopsis:
The Smiths have gathered once again on their quaint family farm to make the latest in a string of low-budget horror movies. No, the movies aren’t particularly “successful.” Some might even call them “bad.” But at least the family is together, and that’s what matters to Jack and Ellen. Their adult children, on the other hand – Trent and Ula – are working up the courage to leave this particular family tradition behind.
Simmering family dysfunction turns to pure chaos when a real dead body shows up on set. Can they come together to keep the movie on track, or will this be the Smith family’s final act?
A scene from FAMILY MOVIE. Photo Credit: Dominic Leon. Photo courtesy of The Overlook Film Festival.
Flush
Official Synopsis:
All Luke wanted to do was win his girlfriend back. Finding himself on the bad end of a drug deal gone wrong, this well-intentioned cocaine addict is now trapped with his head stuck in a squat toilet. Desperate for escape, Luke must contend with ruthless gangsters, a mischievous rat and a barrage of other shit (literally) if he’s going to survive the night in this gross-out festival favorite.
The Furious
Official Synopsis:
After the daughter of Wang Wei (Xie Miao) is kidnapped by a criminal network and he receives no help from the corrupt police, Wei sets out on a rampage to find her himself. His only ally is Navin (Joe Taslim) – a relentless journalist whose wife has mysteriously disappeared. Fueled by a furious vengeance, the unlikely duo ruthlessly fights against the kidnappers in this explosive martial arts showdown.
Goody Goody
Official Synopsis:
Lulled into a necessary sense of comfort during a long home birth process, expecting parents and their midwife begin to realize that something may be horribly wrong. As labor complications ensue, a blizzard rages outside trapping the family in their home – sitting ducks for whatever sinister presence might be in there with them.
A still from GOODY GOODY. Photo courtesy of The Overlook Film Festival.
Grind
Official Synopsis:
Overlook alums Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty and Chelsea Stardust return with a hilarious and terrifying anthological look at modern work culture. Featuring four distinct stories (including Overlook hit MLM), this zany, bloody, wacko tale of inequality is sure to galvanize anyone who has ever felt lost in a sea of menial repetitious tasks.
A still from GRIND. Photo courtesy of The Overlook Film Festival.
Mārama
Official Synopsis:
North Yorkshire, 1859. Mary, a young Māori woman from Aotearoa New Zealand, travels to England to meet with Boyd, a man who claims to have information about her biological parents. When informed by Nathaniel Cole, a wealthy benefactor, that Boyd died of pox, Mary is disheartened. Cole, a man fascinated by the Māoris, offers Mary a place in his home as a governess to his daughter.
But as Mary settles into this foreign world, she begins to sense something darker beneath Cole’s fascination with Māori culture as his sinister obsession slowly comes to light. As the truth unravels, Mary is compelled to reclaim her heritage and her true name, Mārama, setting her on a path of reckoning and vengeance against the man who defiled her culture.
Never After Dark
Official Synopsis:
A wandering medium, Airi spends her life guiding restless spirits out of the world of the living. Summoned to an isolated country house, she comes face to face with a grotesque apparition with powers that defy Airi’s experience. As she digs deeper into the house’s past, a secret comes to light — and Airi finds herself hunted by a far more unpredictable force. For the first time, her greatest adversary is not the supernatural, but the living.
Moeka Hoshi as Airi in NEVER AFTER DARK. Photo Credit: XYZ Films. Photo courtesy of The Overlook Film Festival.
New Group
Official Synopsis:
From the director of the Overlook 2025 winner for Scariest Feature, Best Wishes to All, comes a terrifying new vision of youth, conformity, and authoritarianism as the students inside a modern high school are violently forced to become part of increasingly disturbing, physically demanding and surreal tasks in order to assimilate.
Normal
Official Synopsis:
For Sheriff Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk), his provisional posting to the quaint Midwestern American town of Normal was meant to be a welcome respite from both his marital woes and recent moral injuries in the line of duty. But when a botched bank robbery interrupts the municipality’s tranquil pace, a dark secret is inadvertently exposed, and Ulysses soon discovers that the town is anything but its namesake.
Obsession
Official Synopsis:
After breaking the mysterious “One Wish Willow” to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
Over Your Dead Body
Official Synopsis:
A dysfunctional couple head to a remote cabin to supposedly reconnect, but each has secret plans to kill the other.
The Restoration at Grayson Manor
Official Synopsis:
When a freak accident leaves the proprietor of Grayson Manor handless, his overbearing mother turns to an experimental treatment, giving him a set of prosthetics controlled by his subconscious. From the twisted mind of writer Clay McCleod Chapman (The Pumpkin Pie Show) and director Glenn McQuaid (I Sell the Dead) comes this sexy, pulpy, Warhol-coded romp.
Sinners
Official Synopsis:
Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
Trauma or, Monsters All
Official Synopsis:
An aspiring author gets more than she bargained for when she writes an article for the local paper about her small town’s dark history, prompting unwanted speculation on what monsters may lie within. Overlook mainstay Larry Fessenden returns with the thrilling conclusion to his quadrilogy, a thoughtful and fiercely independent monster mash that can be enjoyed on its own or marathoned with his three origin stories – Habit, Depraved, and Blackout.
A still from TRAUMA OR, MONSTERS ALL. Photo courtesy of The Overlook Film Festival.
Ugly Cry
Official Synopsis:
When Delaney’s boyfriend leaves town to shoot a splashy zombie movie, she becomes obsessed with a character she’s auditioning for after she learns the producers think she has an “ugly cry.” But when she tries to make her cry prettier, her performance suffers. Can she contort herself, and her face, to have the perfect cry? Her attempts to change herself cause Young Delaney to haunt her, catapulting present day Delaney deeper down the rabbit hole. She isolates herself and grows increasingly delusional, and interested in physical fixes to her acting problem. How can she make the world see her as she sees herself? How can she become and become and become? She will become famous. Or die trying.
Emily Robinson as Delaney in UGLY CRY. Photo Credit: More Avenue. Photo courtesy of The Overlook Film Festival.
About The Overlook Film Festival:
The Overlook Film Festival is a 4-day celebration of all things horror held in America’s most haunted city, New Orleans. Each May, genre fans and cinephiles from the world over convene in the heart of the French Quarter, home to countless apparition sightings, voodoo legends, vampire curses and even some lore related to our namesake, horror fiction’s most frightening creation.
Presenting superior film programming with an expanded focus on experiential events, the festival showcases exciting work in new and classic independent horror cinema alongside the latest in interactive and live shows for a fully immersive weekend. As a summer camp for genre fans, The Overlook is a community event bringing the best of horror in all its forms to an enthusiastic and appreciative audience within an intimate and inspirational environment.
The Overlook has been listed as one of MovieMaker Magazine’s Best Genre Festivals in the world every year. Past guests to our events also include Roger Corman, Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, Taika Waititi, Ari Aster, Ana Lily Amirpour, Paul Scheer, Roxanne Benjamin, Darren Lyn Bousman, Simon Barrett and Jason Blum in addition to our illustrious advisory board, who include Elijah Wood, Karyn Kusama, Leigh Whannell, Mick Garris, Larry Fessenden and Joe Dante along with industry luminaries from the Sundance Film Festival, Toronto Intl. Film Festival, Blumhouse Productions, CAA, Endeavor Content, Neon, 30 West, XYZ Films and SpectreVision.
As part of the virtual collaborative initiative NIGHTSTREAM, a digital genre festival created in the wake of the pandemic, The Overlook spearheaded the virtual events component which included John Carpenter, Nia DaCosta, Mike Flanagan, Mary Harron, David Dastmalchian, Ernest Dickerson, John Landis, Issa Lopez, David Lowery, Greg Nicotero, Peaches Christ and many more.
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Categories: Coming Soon, Recommendation
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