Admit One: Gothic Guide to TIFF 2026
12 screenings and experiences to make the most of Toronto’s biggest celebration of cinema
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
Photo IMDb, Crystal Lake
For nearly two weeks each September, Toronto becomes one of the most exciting places in the world for cinephiles. TIFF may be famous for red carpets and awards-season premieres, but its programme reaches much further, bringing television to the big screen and experimental filmmaking into the conversation alongside horror that demands a midnight audience. Add live discussions with the people shaping what we watch next and a city that enthusiastically joins the party, and there are countless ways to experience the festival beyond chasing its biggest ticket.
To help you plan accordingly, we’ve curated a gothic guide to some of the festival’s most compelling dark storytelling, with a few appropriately cinematic ways to spend the hours between screenings.
Gala Presentations
Gala Presentations are TIFF at its most red-carpet-ready, showcasing high-profile films and major talent in some of the festival’s biggest premiere screenings.
A Talent for Murder
Helen Mirren becomes The Talented Mr. Ripley author Patricia Highsmith in Anton Corbijn’s fictionalized psychological thriller, opposite Alden Ehrenreich as a literary agent trying to persuade the reclusive novelist to write one final Ripley story. The film makes its world premiere at TIFF.
Evil Genius
Courteney Cox steps behind the camera to direct this narrative adaptation of the stranger-than-fiction case explored in the Netflix docuseries Evil Genius, with a cast including Patricia Arquette and David Harbour. It receives its world premiere at TIFF as a Gala Presentation.
Primetime Screenings
TIFF’s Primetime programme brings television and episodic storytelling onto the big screen, often pairing anticipated new series with the communal experience of a festival premiere.
YAGA
Kat Sandler reimagines Baba Yaga folklore for a contemporary world in this new series starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Ari Millen and Hudson Williams. The series makes its world premiere at TIFF, with Sarah Runnalls behind the costume design ; full interview HERE.
Crystal Lake
The Friday the 13th mythology heads back to Camp Crystal Lake in showrunner Brad Caleb Kane’s prequel series from A24 and Peacock, with Linda Cardellini taking on Pamela Voorhees. The series receives its world premiere at TIFF, offering an early look at a new chapter in one of horror’s defining franchises.
Carrie
Mike Flanagan returns to Stephen King with his new adaptation of Carrie, starring Summer H. Howell as the telekinetic teenager at the centre of one of horror’s most enduring stories about girlhood, cruelty and rage. TIFF hosts the series’ world premiere as the closing Primetime presentation.
Midnight Madness
TIFF’s legendary late-night programme is where horror, action and genre cinema get rowdier, stranger and bloodier, traditionally screening to an enthusiastic crowd at — appropriately — midnight.
The Face of Horror
The Love Witch filmmaker Anna Biller writes and directs this medieval Gothic revenge story about a woman who rises from the grave to haunt her unfaithful husband, conceived as a gloriously bloody tribute to classic Technicolor horror. Ellie Bamber, Kristine Froseth, Jonah Hauer-King, Leo Suter and Bella Heathcote star, with Biller also designing the costumes; it makes its world premiere at TIFF.
Vintage Violence
Eugene Kotlyarenko sends Cole Sprouse to Japan in this mixed-media caper about a livestreamer whose discovery of a cache of vintage denim lands him in trouble with the Yakuza after a subscriber, played by Kiko Mizuhara, lures him overseas to make the sale. Nijirō Murakami and Hio Miyazawa join the cast for one of this year’s more unhinged Midnight Madness selections, making its world premiere at TIFF.
Documentary
TIFF Docs turns the festival spotlight toward nonfiction filmmaking, spanning intimate personal stories and ambitious investigations of real people, places and ideas.
Like Magic
Melissa Saavedra Gil returns to Cali, Colombia, to investigate the 1991 murder of her parents and confront a tragedy that fractured her childhood memories. Drawing on archival footage and personal testimony, her intimate debut turns a decades-long search for answers into an exploration of memory and the complicated pursuit of truth. The Colombia–Argentina–Uruguay documentary makes its world premiere in TIFF Docs.
Wavelengths
Wavelengths is TIFF’s home for formally adventurous and experimental cinema, spotlighting filmmakers who push beyond conventional narrative and visual language.
At Night
British artist Beatrice Gibson’s first feature follows six women through a single night in Paris, moving among sex workers, poets and single mothers in a feminist meditation captured on richly textured 16mm by Ben Rivers. This one isn't a world premiere: it comes to TIFF after Locarno, where Gibson won Best Emerging Director.
Summits
Visionaries: Danny Boyle
The Oscar-winning director behind Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting and 28 Days Later sits down for a live Visionaries conversation about his career and creative practice. Offering insight from a person instrumental in redefining modern zombie cinema.
Visionaries: Danny Boyle at TIFF
Festival Adjacent Activities
TIFF spills well beyond the screening rooms each September, with Toronto hotels, restaurants and brands creating limited-edition menus, pop-ups and experiences around festival season.
TIFF Festival Street
Photo Credit: TIFF
For opening weekend, King Street West becomes part of the show as TIFF takes over the neighbourhood surrounding TIFF Lightbox with its free Festival Street celebration. Outdoor screenings and live music spill onto the street alongside installations and plenty of prime people-watching, giving even those between tickets—or without one at all—a chance to get swept up in festival fever.
More information HERE.
Shangri-La Toronto: TIFF Takeover
Photo Credit: Shangri-La Toronto
Shangri-La Toronto is leaning all the way into festival season. Its TIFF Afternoon Tea draws inspiration from the flavours of movie-going while delivering an elevated immersive experience, while a month-long TIFF 2026 Signature Cocktails menu is available with drinks including Caught on Camera, 35mm and The Afterparty. On Sundays, Chef's Cut: Director's Edition turns the hotel's roast dinner into a two-course cinematic menu.
Part of the magic of TIFF is never knowing which screening will become the one you talk about after the credits roll. A world premiere might introduce your next obsession, while a midnight crowd can make a horror film feel like a collective fever dream.
With 11 days of stories taking over screens across Toronto, take a chance on something strange and save us a seat.
Which films are you adding to your list?
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