37th San Sebastián Terror Week: Blood, Jury Bureaucracy and the Main Theatre Debacle
By Odin Lagbert
Under the impassive gaze of Samantha Hudson on the official poster, the 37th edition of the Fantastic and Horror Film Week in Donostia closed its curtains at the Main Theatre after eight days of screams, entrails, popcorn projectiles and that unrivaled fauna that clutters the seats. Between the institutional solemnity of carpet‑juries and the visceral chaos of the audience pit, the 2026 edition has left a trail of certainties, a few Asian surprises and, of course, a handful of cinematic catastrophes that deserve to be dealt with properly.
1. The Crowd’s Verdict: Indonesian Lock‑up Triumph and Critical Bias
The Main Theatre audience isn’t looking for metaphysics or auteur‑festival filigrees when the lights go out at 11 p.m.; they want blood, devil‑fast pacing and catalysts for collective mayhem. So it’s no surprise that the Audience Award for Best Feature landed with a resounding 8.35 for Ghost in the Cell (2026), the Indonesian prison slaughter by Joko Anwar. With its blend of invisible forces massacring inmates and desperate alliances between corrupt guards and rival gangs, the Indo‑Korean film blew the applause meter.
The counterpoint to popular enthusiasm came from the Golden Blogos Critics’ Award, handed out by the specialist committee (Manuel Aguilar, Iker Casado, Amaia Egües, Paula García‑Arenzana, Mikel Peña and Noelia Santamaría) to the Danish production No Rest for the Wicked (2026) by Kasper Kalle. In its official record, the critics praised the film for being:
“An immersive gothic fable, whose atmosphere, setting and performances plunge us into vampire folklore and legends, proving that queer can be fantastic in every sense.”
However, the respectable audience in the hall didn’t share that poetic fascination and gave it a lukewarm 5.97, leaving it teetering on the edge of the scrape.
Full Audience Ranking: Competition Features
The official tally of popular votes shows precisely which proposals lit up the room and which left the audience chilled:
| Rank | Film Title | Director | Audience Score |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1st | Ghost in the Cell | Joko Anwar | 8.35 |
| 2nd | Sanguine | Marion Le Corroller | 8.11 |
| 3rd | L'estranea | Paolo Strippoli | 7.40 |
| 4th | Upiro | Óscar Martín | 7.22 |
| 5th | Crawlers | Ángel Gómez Hernández | 7.14 |
| 6th | River | Joshua Giuliano | 7.02 |
| 7th | Impostores (Imposters) | Caleb Phillips | 6.97 |
| 8th | Never After Dark | Dave Boyle | 6.82 |
| 9th | What Happened to Doris? | Nick Simon | 6.34 |
| 10th | El diablo sabe tu nombre | Andrés Beltrán | 6.18 |
| 11th | Bloody Tennis | Nikias Chryssos | 6.01 |
| 12th | No Rest for the Wicked | Kasper Kalle | 5.97 |
| 13th | Black Sheeps | Jonathan King | 5.74 |
| 14th | HotSpring SharkAttack 2 | Morito Inoue | 5.56 |
| 15th | La muerte de Drácula | Burnin' Percebes | 5.54 |
| 16th | The Glorious Dead | John Adams & Toby Poser | 5.35 |
| 17th | Salitre | Norma Vila | 4.93 |
2. The Edition’s Flops: The Main Theatre’s Red Lantern
Every edition of the Week has its heroes, but it also has its spectacular bomb‑drops. And if there’s a cruel verdict in Donostia, it’s the audience ballot when a film sinks spectacularly.
The indisputable red lantern—and the sole suspenseful moment of the Official Section—went to the opening film: Salitre (2026), by Norma Vila. Despite the packaging of Nagore Aranburu and coastal folk‑horror intentions with infestation‑ridden nurseries, the picture failed to hook the Donostian parish and sank to a blush‑inducing 4.93. Kicking off the festival with a drama‑grade ballot is a bold statement of intent.
Other attempts at eccentricity fell flat as well:
The Glorious Dead* (5.35): The Adams family’s dark drama collapsed under its own leaden weight.
La muerte de Drácula* (5.54): Burnin' Percebes’ absurd humor split the room and ended up in no‑man’s land.
HotSpring SharkAttack 2* (5.56): Not even Donostia’s love for sensei Morito Inoue or his soap‑suds sharks in thermal waters could save a sequel that suffered formula B fatigue.
Black Sheeps* (5.74): The rowdy New Zealand comedy promised a gore‑filled bacchanal and delivered a decaf version for the Main Street crowd.
3. The Jury’s Solemn Jargon vs. The Short‑Film Trenches
It’s fascinating to contrast the flowery, pompous language of official statements with what actually happened on screen. While press conferences see jurors string together academic terms to justify their minutes, the Week’s audience measures shorts in laughs, scares or yawns.
The Official Short‑Film Jury (Oriol Estrada, Iratxe Fresneda and María Teresa García Mora) awarded the Best Short Film Prize to the Chinese work The Last Jiangshi (2026), by Yu Chih‑Chieh. In its official record, the jury read the following institutional motivation:
“For being an homage to the twilight moment of the fantastic sub‑genre it represents. It is a proposal that, through humor and the fusion of styles and genres, connects us with emotions as human as the fear of being forgotten.”
Claqueta Ácida’s translation: a fun showcase of hopping Asian vampires that mixes slapstick and nostalgia with enough flair to dazzle the carpet‑bound intelligentsia.
In the animation category, the same jury granted the Silver Méliès for Best European Fantastic Short to the Spanish Insecticida (2026), by Paula Gallego, justifying the decision in the official act with these words:
“For its artistic skill in blending different animation styles and disciplines to sharply address our toxic relationship with screens.”
Meanwhile, the true short‑form crowd‑pleaser was The Seeing Eye Dog Who Saw Too Much (2025), by Eric Jackowitz, which scooped the double by winning both the Audience Award for Best Short and the Young Jury Award.
In the continental and local categories, the medals were distributed as follows:
Best Spanish Short (Audience): Amor de padre* (2026), by Caye Casas.
Sci‑Fi Award for Best Spanish Short: Señuelo* (2025), by Martha G. Ayerbe.
EITB Award for Best Basque Short: Azpian* (2026), by Danel Garay & Laura Barquín.
Best Animated Short (Audience): Zwermen* (2025), by Janneke Swinkels & Tim Frijsinger.
4. Paper Trenches: The 11th Fanzine War
In the trench of photocopied paper and guerrilla staples, the 11th Fanzine War once again proved that underground culture enjoys iron‑clad health in the Main Theatre hallway. The three participating collectives fought with photocopies, frantic layout and raw humor.
The final popular vote crowned the fanzine Pantxineta Endemoniata, which took the FNAC Donostia‑sponsored prize with a 7.43. In second place came La Valla with a notable 7.19, while Eqlipse closed the ranking with a 5.57.
Final Verdict
The 37th Fantastic and Horror Film Week in San Sebastián bows out confirming that Asian cinema still reigns on the Main stage, that the audience won’t forgive fireworks without substance—no matter how Basque or inaugural the film—and that the festival enjoys enviable vitality. Let’s keep the popcorn projectiles ready for next year.
