Access:Horror film fest celebrates horror through the lens of disability
The fourth annual Access:Horror Film Festival will begin at the Winchester, Virginia Alamo Drafthouse later this month with an in-person opening night showcase on September 25. Virtual programming will stream October 4 through November 1.
There are plenty of horror film festivals out there, but Access:Horror is definitely unique in its focus.
Access:Horror celebrates the impact, history and future of disability within the horror genre. The press release states: “We believe in horror as an agent of change, and seek to elevate discourse that uplifts marginalized creators and gives them space to create new work that imagines new worlds.”
Founded by filmmaker/activist Ariel Baska, Access:Horror promotes disability advocacy by way of genre-related filmmaking. Forbes magazine has named it one of the accessible film festivals in the nation.
The 2026 lineup of films includes short films that will focus on neurodivergence, medical racism, depression, disability, and queer persecution. Baska stated that with all of the violence, cuts to funding, and lack of protection for those with disability, “this is already a horror movie, which is why, this year, horror feels like the most honest genre out there.”
Baska made sure that open captions and audio descriptions would be included for the featured films.
The films for Access:Horror include:
A Fermenting Woman (Directed by Priscilla Galvez)– A chef/fermentation expert is preparing a delicious career-saving meal that includes a very special ingredient
Blindsided (Directed by Patrick Hogan) – The story of a blind woman facing an unknown threat in her own home allows us to experience the story from her perspective.
Cold (Directed by Liz Whitmere) – “A visceral horror-thriller tracking a woman’s body literally decomposing; a horrific transformation weaponized and dismissed by those around her as standard aging and menopause.”
Everhand (Directed by Lee Cleaveland) – A disabled farmer and his wife order a mysterious machine, and soon find themselves having to contend with a company representative.
Four Itchy Boys (Directed by Andrew Hebert) – “An LGBTQ+ body horror and queer/trans allegory detailing the sudden media circus surrounding an unexplainable itch.”
The Hog Queen (Directed by Katherine Craft) – A gay bar in Texas is hosting a drag show…all in good fun into the night becomes a fight for survival.
Inner Demons (Directed by Jasmine J. Johnson) – In this thriller, depression takes the shape of a terrifying physical being.
Mango (Directed by Joan Iyiola) – This film takes on fibroids and ongoing medical racism aimed at Black women.
Tal (Mask) (Directed by Charlie Gillette) – “A haunting, claustrophobic meditation on immigrant identity and familial expectations. Locked inside a law firm late at night, a secretly queer Korean-American artist is forced into a psychological confrontation with himself.”
Additional Virtual Selections:
Do You See Her? (Directed by Janet-Rose Nguyen)
Heartbreak (Directed by Sarah Leigh)
Landfills of Desire (Directed by Sapna Moti Bhavnani)
Long Pork (Directed by Iris Dukatt)
Mardazma (Directed by Amir Masoud Soheili)
PU EKAW TNOD (Directed byRebecca Culverhouse)
REPEAT (Directed by Marlon Royal Reid)
Trapped (Directed by Greg Jeffs)
Troubled Connexxxions (Directed by E’Niyah Wilson)
Voyeur (Directed by Maryam Hashempour)
For more information on streaming Access:Horror films, visit their website here.
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