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Brace yourself: Night Visions is back to haunt Helsinki's silver screens.
The Nordic region's biggest festival dedicated to horror, fantasy, sci-fi and action cinema takes place twice a year, in spring and autumn. And while horror is its speciality, the programme ventures far beyond the genre, taking in everything from cult classics and outrageous indie oddities to documentaries and films you won't find at your average multiplex.
The autumn edition, known as Night Visions Maximum Halloween, runs from 11 to 15 November 2026, taking over Finnkino Kinopalatsi in central Helsinki. This year's programme features 38 feature films, with more than 60 screenings, including plenty of Finnish premieres.
This isn't a festival for people who like to be tucked up in bed by midnight. True to its name, Night Visions culminates in a legendary all-night movie marathon on Saturday 14 November, with the final screenings continuing into Sunday morning.
Beyond the films, there's a movie flea market at Kinopalatsi on Saturday 14 November from 1pm to 4pm, where collectors can hunt for physical media and cinematic treasures. And Friday the 13th is getting an appropriately sinister afterparty at On the Rocks.
Our picks from the Night Visions November 2026 programme
The Finnish Christmas nightmare: Punaista lunta (Red Snow)
Who says Christmas is the season of goodwill? In Finnish director Ilja Rautsi's gloriously outrageous horror comedy, a balding, middle-aged vampire disguises himself as Santa Claus to gain entry to unsuspecting families' homes. After all, everyone welcomes Santa in Finland. Even vampires, apparently.
It's an oddly fitting premise for a Finnish Christmas film. Long before Santa became the kindly, red-suited gentleman we know today, Finnish Christmas traditions featured some rather terrifying characters, including the horned, masked nuuttipukki.
Remarkably, Rautsi has assembled some of Finland's biggest acting names for his feature directorial debut, including Hannu-Pekka Björkman, Tommi Korpela and Krista Kosonen. Expect gleefully twisted humour, outrageous gore and a Christmas Eve you'll never forget.
Language: Finnish with English subtitles.
The Korean zombie nightmare: Colony
If you loved Train to Busan, here's one to put straight on your list. Director Yeon Sang-ho returns to infection horror with Colony, in which a Seoul skyscraper becomes a terrifying quarantine zone after a biological catastrophe. The infected creatures develop a collective intelligence, making them rather more formidable than your average shambling zombies. Fresh from Cannes, it's one of the festival's most enticing genre premieres.
Language: Korean with English subtitles.
The body-horror discovery: Sanguine – Species
French filmmaker Marion Le Coroller's debut arrives from the Midnight strand at Cannes. Set in the pressure-cooker world of medical students, Sanguine – Species blends disturbing body horror with pitch-black satire. If you enjoyed the gleefully grotesque excesses of The Substance, this could be right up your alley. It's also the festival's opening film.
Language: French with English subtitles.
The Hollywood comeback: The Beast and Renny Harlin
Long before Finnish filmmakers began making their mark internationally, Renny Harlin was the country's first real Hollywood success story. In the early 1990s, he hit the big time with action blockbusters Die Hard 2 and Cliffhanger, becoming something of a national hero back home. Hollywood has been rather less kind to him since, but Harlin has kept making films – and now he's back with a new action thriller, The Beast.
Samuel L. Jackson stars as the President of the United States, trapped inside his armoured limousine following a terrorist attack, alongside Joel Kinnaman as an injured Secret Service agent.
The film receives its European premiere at Kinopalatsi on Saturday 14 November, followed by a masterclass with Harlin himself. The director also appears at a free Harlin House event on Friday 13 November at The Train Factory, featuring a conversation and a screening of his 1988 horror hit A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.
Language: English without subtitles. Saturday's masterclass is in Finnish.
The dysfunctional family nightmare: Rosebush Pruning
Not everything at Night Visions involves zombies, serial killers or buckets of blood. Imagine The Royal Tenenbaums from hell, with a dash of Saltburn. Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz's Rosebush Pruning, which competed at the Berlin International Film Festival, is a deliciously twisted black comedy about four obscenely wealthy American siblings living in a luxurious villa in Spain, where their lives revolve around designer clothes, family secrets and deeply unhealthy relationships. When one brother decides to move out, the family's carefully maintained world begins to fall apart.
Written by Efthimis Filippou, a frequent collaborator of Yorgos Lanthimos, the film boasts an impressive cast including Elle Fanning, Riley Keough, Callum Turner and Pamela Anderson. Expect a family reunion like no other.
Language: English (no subtitles).
The action classic: Hard Boiled
Before Hollywood discovered John Woo, the Hong Kong director was already reinventing action cinema with extraordinary shoot-outs, operatic violence and almost balletic gunplay. His 1992 classic Hard Boiled, starring Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung, returns in a 4K presentation. If you've never seen it on a big screen, here's your chance.
Language: Cantonese with English subtitles.
The alternative-rock time machine: The Best Summer
One of the festival's most intriguing documentaries takes us back to the summer of 1995, when Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Beck, Pavement, Bikini Kill and other alternative-rock royalty toured Australia. Director Tamra Davis was there with her camera, capturing performances and backstage moments with remarkable intimacy. For anyone who remembers the 1990s alternative scene – or wishes they did – this looks irresistible.
Language: English (no subtitles).
The cult-horror classics: Adrienne Barbeau retrospective
Night Visions also pays tribute to American genre-film icon Adrienne Barbeau with three cult favourites: John Carpenter's atmospheric ghost story The Fog (1980), his dystopian action classic Escape from New York (1981) and Wes Craven's comic-book monster movie Swamp Thing (1982). A particularly tempting programme for anyone who likes their genre cinema with a healthy dose of 1980s nostalgia.
Language: English (no subtitles).
Night Visions 2026: dates and tickets
When: 11–15 November 2026
Where: Finnkino Kinopalatsi, Kaisaniemenkatu 2, Helsinki
Tickets: Individual screenings €12.50; all-night marathon pass €65
Programme: Night Visions official website
Tickets: Finnkino