By BREANNA WHIPPLE
The CALGARY UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL returns for its 23rd year, with 45 feature-length films, 35 shorts and six extra-special events from April 16 through 26 at the Globe Cinema. With a lineup promising another groundbreaking festival chock-full of genre films, CUFF 2026 is shaping up to be a can’t-miss event for horror fans!
Passionate about giving voice to the weird and wonderful, the programmers behind CUFF have put a lot of thought and intention into their film selections. Though there are 22 horror films featured and worth checking out, the festival dips into all cinematic pools, surely leading fans to new favourites, regardless of personal preference. Variety is the spice of life!
CUFF 2026 opens on Thursday, April 16, with HOKUM, the latest supernatural horror from Damian McCarthy (Oddity). The film follows a novelist (Adam Scott) who finds himself at a haunted, remote inn during a trip to scatter his parents’ cremains. To juxtapose the variety of the CUFF 2026 lineup, the closing film is I LOVE BOOSTERS, a comedy from hip-hop legend Boots Riley about a group of professional shoplifters. Keke Palmer (Nope), LaKeith Stanfield (Sorry to Not Bother You) and Demi Moore (The Substance) star.
Alberta takes center stage this year, with four Albertan features and five shorts premiering at the fest. Included in the features line up are EARTH TO COLBY, a horror film about a vlogger who discovers a notebook with knowledge detailing secret portals in her hometown; NOFX – 40 YEARS OF FUCKIN’ UP, a documentary focusing on the four-decade career of the legendary punk band; CAMP, about witches, curses and redemption; and BUFFET INFINITY, a debut cosmic-horror about duelling businesses inspired by the town of Westridge, Alberta. All in all, CUFF 2026’s lineup includes twelve Canadian premieres.
Horror-thriller GOODY GOODY makes its international premiere, as will horror-comedy anthology GRIND and the Australian body horror SACCHARINE. The highly anticipated OBSESSION will also screen ahead of its theatrical release.
CUFF is set to host Calgary’s flagship National Canadian Film Day event – a free 30th Anniversary screening of HARD CORE LOGO with iconic director Bruce McDonald and actor Callum Keith Rennie in the audience on Wednesday, April 15. CLAIRE’S HAT: THE UNMAKING OF A FILM, McDonald’s rarely screened documentary, will be presented by CUFF on Sunday, April 19.
Also presented on Sunday, April 19, is the 45th anniversary screening of the seminal cult Canadian horror slasher MY BLOODY VALENTINE with director George Mihalka in attendance. Other special events include a live script reading; a three-hour retro cartoon marathon, paired with an all-you-can-eat sugary cereal bar; a 48-hour short movie-making challenge; and an indie video game bash where participants compete on the big screen. CUFFcade, Calgary’s first arcade of custom-built game cabinets, returns for its twelfth year and will be free to play throughout the duration of the festival.
If the films and the fun are somehow not enough of a draw, 115+ filmmakers, actors, creators and industry professionals will be in attendance for post-screening Q&As, free panels, jury films and networking.
Tickets are flying fast, and with good reason! To peruse the lineup and purchase yours, visit https://www.calgaryundergroundfilm.org/.
