Chroma Acquires Wild International Trio for 2026: Mash Ville, Dead by Dawn, and The Black Hole

Chroma locks in three boundary-pushing international genre films for its 2026 release slate.

Chroma is coming in hot for 2026, and for genre fans who live for international cinema that plays strange, loud, and unapologetically bold, this new trio is exactly the kind of slate that turns heads. The genre-focused distributor has picked up North American rights to three wildly different but equally daring films: the South Korean kimchi western Mash Ville, the Polish giallo Dead by Dawn, and Estonia’s absurdist sci-fi fever dream The Black Hole.

Leading the charge is Mash Ville, a whiskey-soaked, genre-mashing western from director Wook Hwang that Chroma describes as “Coen Brothers meets Tarantino.” The film follows nine characters and a single corpse whose competing agendas spiral into escalating chaos, all wrapped in a distinctly Korean spin on classic western iconography. The film made waves on the festival circuit, earning Hwang the Best Director award at Fantasia International Film Festival, and will be the first of the trio released by Chroma, arriving digitally on January 23.

Following close behind is Dead by Dawn, a rare Polish entry into the giallo tradition from writer-director Dawid Torrone. Leaning heavily into stylized visuals and theatrical horror, the film premiered at Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival before continuing its run through Morbido Fest, Screamfest, and Grimmfest, where it received a special mention for Best Cinematography. For fans of operatic kills, heightened color palettes, and old-school European horror aesthetics, this one feels like a deep-cut discovery waiting to be unearthed.

Rounding out the slate is The Black Hole, an absurdist, arthouse sci-fi trip from Estonian director Moonike Siimets. Told in a triptych structure, the film follows a small community grappling with increasingly bizarre phenomena after a black hole appears inside a lilac bush—bringing extraterrestrials, a giant spider, and an Austrian in breeches along for the ride. Since premiering at Fantastic Fest 2024, the film has racked up awards across Europe and Canada, cementing its reputation as a singular, off-kilter genre experience that thrives on tone, satire, and surreal escalation.

The deals were negotiated with EST Media for Mash Ville, The Coven for Dead by Dawn, and The Reel Suspects for The Black Hole. For Chroma, the acquisitions underscore the label’s commitment to genre storytelling that transcends borders, languages, and expectations.

“A blood-curdling scream sounds the same in any language,” said Chroma VP Ahbra Perry, emphasizing the universality of fear and invention that drew the company to these films. It’s a philosophy that fits squarely with Chroma’s mission since launching in 2025 as a U.S.-based distribution label under Narrative Distribution, focused on science fiction and horror across streaming, transactional platforms, broadcast, physical media, and beyond.

For Horror Movies Uncut, this is exactly the kind of international genre slate we love to keep an eye on—films that don’t play it safe, don’t look like everything else, and aren’t afraid to get weird. Whether it’s kimchi westerns, Polish giallo, or absurdist Estonian sci-fi, Chroma’s 2026 lineup is shaping up to be one hell of a ride.