Halloween Horror Film Festival

Overview

Halloween Horror Film Festival 2026 — London Independent films, a cinema full of horror fans, and one big Halloween night in London. The Halloween Horror Film Festival is back on Friday 30 October 2026 for our fifth year. Last year’s festival completely sold out, and we’re hoping to make this year’s event even bigger. What we love most about the festival is getting filmmakers and audiences together in the same room to watch independent films the way they’re meant to be seen — on a cinema screen with a live audience. The festival takes place at Coldharbour Blue Cinema in London, an intimate and atmospheric venue that’s perfect for Halloween. We also want filmmakers to feel part of the night. If you’re attending, you’ll have the opportunity to introduce your film, meet other filmmakers, chat with the audience and enjoy the rest of the festival. What to expect 🎬 Five years of the Halloween Horror Film Festival ⭐ 48 reviews from filmmakers on FilmFreeway 🎥 Your film screened in a real London cinema 🏆 17 award categories, with physical awards for the winners 🗳️ Audience voting throughout the evening 🎤 Filmmakers can introduce their films 🤝 Time to meet and talk with other filmmakers 🎃 Halloween fancy-dress competition and prize 🍿 Complimentary snacks 🏅 Official Selection and Award Winner laurels We welcome filmmakers at every stage of their career, including first-time filmmakers. We’re not looking for one particular style of horror either. Your film might be scary, funny, strange, disturbing, emotional, experimental or completely unexpected. If you’ve made something original that you want an audience to experience, we’d love to see it. Our programme has room for horror, thrillers, dark drama, comedy horror, animation, music videos, sci-fi, supernatural stories, environmental themes and films that don’t fit neatly into a box. Festival Night 📅 Friday 30 October 2026 🕔 5:00pm – 11:30pm 📍 Coldharbour Blue Cinema 259–260 Hardess Street, Loughborough Junction, London SE24 0HN Submissions are open. Send us your film and hopefully we’ll see you — and your work — on the big screen this Halloween.

Last updated Sep 4, 2026

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Festival Details

FilmFreeway communityGold festival

• Filmmaker

  The team of Wolf Cake is so lucky to have been able to take part in the 2025 Halloween Horror Fest and even receive a nomination as an awards finalist! Halloween Horror Fest and Hakan were extremely communicable, and such an awesome festival to take part in so early on in their history (year 4 alumnus). The select films we were programmed alongside this year were all awesome films recognizable from other major genre fests and they did a fantastic job programming works as well as putting together such a fantastic Halloween festival event. The team of Wolf Cake was unfortunately not able to attend in person this year, but the communication from the festival and its directors was outstanding. Consistent across all ends and constantly updated about the event and our own works placement within it. Thank you again Hakan and the HHFF team for allowing us to play with you and we can’t wait to be back soon enough with another! Great festival team— and awesome to hear that this years programme and event was completely sold out!

• Filmmaker

  A brilliant festival full of thoughtful organisers, talented filmmakers and cracking independent horror! Massive thanks to the HHFF Team, hope we get the chance to screen there again.

• Filmmaker

  Had a great time screening our latest horror film in an atmospheric cinema with a bar, snacks, and a very friendly host who made everyone feel welcome. The audience voting and costume competition were nice bonuses too.

• Filmmaker

  The Halloween Horror Festival was such a treat to attend and a great way to spend Halloween! My team and I were thrilled to see our film amongst a strong variety of horror films and were even more excited to bring home Best Score! The festival had spooky vibes in the best way, was exceptionally organized, and included the bonus of audiences voting for their favorites. We loved her interactive it was and appreciated receiving feedback from audience members. Definitely recommend and hopefully we'll be submitting another horror for next year!

• Filmmaker

  Very grateful to Hakan and the Halloween Horror Festival crew for showcasing my short "The Dianne Richards Tape" massive thanks to them for putting on a great show!

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