Reel Fear
A curatorial section for film festivals

Horror that fits in your pocket.

A vertical screen, a corner of dark puffs, Bluetooth headphones, and a curated programme of horror and fantastique shorts and series — all in portrait. Watch the trailers, scan, and sink in: close, vertical, alone in a crowd.

Submit your film See the experience Bring it to your festival
Open call · no deadline · filmmakers welcome
Scroll · don't look away
The experience

Trailers up. Scan. Into the dark.

No queues, no algorithms screaming for attention. A few square metres of festival floor, built to be watched the way this generation actually shoots.

01

Watch the trailers

A vertical screen runs a reel of trailers in the lounge. Browse from your puff, or flip through the menu beside the seat.

02

Scan the QR

See something you like? Scan the QR code below the screen — or the one on the menu by your puff. No install, no account; the film opens in your browser.

03

Headphones on

Connect the Bluetooth headphones, let the room fall away, and immerse in the full film — portrait, full-screen, alone in a crowd.

04

Vote & get The Relic

Rate what you watched. Stay to the end and cast your vote, and you'll claim The Relic — a limited keepsake, collected at the Reel Fear desk.

Inside each session

More than a screening. A scene.

Every Reel Fear session pairs the competition with a daily AI showcase, talks and time to meet the room.

IN COMPETITION

Shorts & Series

The heart of the section — vertical horror shorts and series competing for the audience vote and the jury's eye.

OUT OF COMPETITION · DAILY

The AI Showcase

One slot every day is reserved for a special showcase of work made entirely with AI. Not in competition — a window on where the craft is going.

EVERY SESSION

Talks & special guests

Filmmakers, programmers and genre voices take the floor between screenings — short talks, Q&As, and a guest curating each session.

EVERY SESSION

Networking

The lounge is a room, not just a screen. Time set aside each session to meet the people making vertical horror happen.

The programme

The line-up drops when it's official.

Our selection is announced festival by festival, only once each programme is locked. The next line-up will be announced soon.

IN COMPETITION · TBC
PSYCHOLOGICAL · SERIES · 3 PARTS
Title revealed when the selection is official
OFFICIAL SELECTION · TBC
FOLK HORROR · SHORT · 11 MIN
Title revealed when the selection is official
IN COMPETITION · TBC
OCCULT · SHORT · 13 MIN
Title revealed when the selection is official
SELECTION PENDING
FOUND FOOTAGE · SHORT · 6 MIN
Title revealed when the selection is official
Open call · no deadline FILMMAKERS

Made something vertical and unsettling? Submissions are open year-round — we programme on a rolling basis, festival by festival. Full requirements are on the submission page.

Submit your film
Reel Fear Tour · 2026

Where the dark travels next.

We plug into festivals through the year. Here's where the screen, the puffs and the programme are headed.

01
To be announced
USA · name revealed when the edition is official
September 2026
SOON
02
To be announced
USA · name revealed when the edition is official
September 2026
SOON
03
To be announced
USA · name revealed when the edition is official
October 2026
SOON
Stops confirmed for 2026 · names announced through the season
Don't Look Back

The interviews live on our socials.

The interviews that map out the global vertical-horror scene — short conversations with the directors and creators shaping it, dropping on our channels. Follow to catch every cut.

THE NEW WAVE
How vertical rewired the language of horror.
ON THE RECORD
Why the phone became the scariest screen.
FIELD NOTES
The directors mapping vertical horror worldwide.
Reel Fear festival installation
Reel Fear festival installation
Reel Fear festival installation
For festivals

A section built for vertical horror.

We bring the screen, the puffs, the headphones and the programme — a turnkey curatorial section your audience scans into and never wants to leave. A new way to show the shorts and series built for a vertical world.

Bring it to your festival
In selection talks with festivals across the Americas & Europe
Partners & sponsors

Be part of the new era.

Reel Fear is built with a small circle of partners who want to reach a genre-loving festival audience up close.

Vertical horror is a market being written right now — and the audience writing it is in our lounge, headphones on, fully present. Partner with us and your brand is there at the moment the habit forms, as a name that helped shape the new era rather than one that arrived late to it.