Dances With Films 2026 Review: Infirmary Finds New Life in Found Footage Horror

Nicholas Pineda’s Infirmary turns an abandoned hospital into a pressure cooker of dread.

As Dances With Films kicks off our first horror coverage of 2026, one of the earliest standouts arrives in the form of Infirmary, the claustrophobic found-footage feature debut from writer-director Nicholas Pineda. It’s the kind of low-budget, high-concept genre film that reminds you why found footage continues to evolve instead of disappearing.

The film follows Edward (Paul Syre), a young man starting his first overnight shift as a security guard inside a long-abandoned hospital. Paired with Lester (Mark Anthony Williams), a seasoned guard whose unsettling demeanor immediately raises red flags, Edward is slowly introduced to the building’s dark past. Danielle Kennedy rounds out the core cast as Mrs. Downey, a social worker whose involvement hints that this job is anything but routine.

Rather than relying on a single handheld camera, Infirmary smartly expands its visual language through CCTV feeds, security monitors, and surveillance footage. The approach recalls last year’s indie breakout Duba Duba, but here it’s used with sharper intent, allowing the film to open up its space while still maintaining an oppressive, locked-in atmosphere. It’s a reminder of how effective found footage can be when filmmakers stop treating it as a limitation and start using it as a tool.

The hospital location does a lot of heavy lifting, and whatever space Pineda secured for this shoot is genuinely unsettling. Long corridors, dead zones on cameras, and half-seen movement in the background build tension organically, without relying on constant jump scares. There’s also an unexpected streak of dark humor, largely carried by Williams, whose performance walks a fine line between comic relief and something far more disturbing.

What Infirmary does best is sustain dread. The film allows your imagination to work overtime, feeding you just enough information to stay uneasy without overexplaining its horrors. That restraint is key, and it’s where many found footage films falter. While there are a few moments of dialogue that could have been tightened and a handful of lapses that briefly pull you out of the experience, the film’s momentum never truly stalls.

Clocking in at under 90 minutes, Infirmary knows exactly when to get in and get out. It’s lean, focused, and confident in its premise—qualities that go a long way in a genre often bloated by excess runtime and unnecessary exposition.

As it heads into its world premiere on January 16 at Dances With Films: New York Edition, Infirmary already feels like a title that will travel well across the festival circuit. For fans of found footage, slow-burn tension, and location-driven horror, this is absolutely one to keep on your radar.

HMU Rating: 3.5 out of 5

A smart, forward-thinking found footage entry that understands how to modernize the genre without losing its core sense of fear.