Rotterdam 2026: HMU’s Genre Watchlist From the Tiger & Big Screen Competitions

HMU highlights the Rotterdam 2026 titles putting horror and sci-fi back on the festival radar.

Rotterdam 2026: HMU’s Genre Watchlist From the Tiger & Big Screen Competitions

The International Film Festival Rotterdam has unveiled its full 2026 lineup, and while the Tiger Competition traditionally leans arthouse-first, this year’s selections once again prove that genre storytelling continues to seep into the festival’s beating heart.

From sci-fi satire to psychological dread and filmmaker favorites with proven horror credentials, a handful of titles immediately stood out to us at Horror Movies Uncut as projects worth tracking — not just for Rotterdam, but for where they’re likely headed next on the global festival circuit.

Here’s our HMU Genre Watchlist from IFFR 2026.

Talking to a Stranger

Dir. Adrián García Bogliano (Mexico)

Tiger Competition

This is the clear genre priority.

Bogliano is already a familiar name to horror fans thanks to films like Here Comes the Devil and Black Circle, and Talking to a Stranger continues that lineage. The project becomes even more notable with its cast: Gigi Saul Guerrero and Tatiana del Real, two performers deeply embedded in contemporary genre spaces.

While plot details remain under wraps, Bogliano’s track record alone suggests psychological unease, creeping dread, and thematic darkness. This is exactly the kind of film that tends to surface at Rotterdam before making its way to North American genre festivals and specialty distribution stateside.

If one Tiger Competition title feels destined for the horror conversation in 2026, it’s this one.

Yellow Cake

Dir. Tiago Melo (Brazil)

Tiger Competition

One of the most intriguing genre hybrids in the lineup.

Set in Picuí, Brazil, Yellow Cake follows scientists attempting to eradicate the dengue-carrying Aedes aegypti mosquito using uranium. When the experiment spirals out of control, a Brazilian researcher races to stop a looming catastrophe.

Described as a sci-fi comedy, the premise plays like eco-horror filtered through political satire and doomsday absurdism. Melo, best known internationally as a producer (Aquarius, Bacurau), steps into the director’s chair with a project that feels very much in conversation with modern speculative cinema.

This one feels tailor-made for cult attention.

Unerasable!

Dir. Socrates Saint-Wulfstan Drakos (Belgium, Thailand, Sweden)

Tiger Competition

Still something of a question mark — but one we’re watching closely.

Drakos is known for work that leans surreal, confrontational, and emotionally abrasive. While Unerasable! hasn’t fully revealed its genre identity yet, the title, creative pedigree, and Rotterdam placement suggest potential psychological horror or body-adjacent territory.

For now, it remains a wait-and-see, but it’s firmly on our radar.

Cyclone

Dir. Philip Yung (Hong Kong)

Big Screen Competition

At present, Cyclone appears more aligned with crime drama than outright genre, consistent with Yung’s previous work. That said, the Big Screen Competition often blurs tonal boundaries, and Rotterdam has a history of programming films that evolve into something darker than their surface suggests.

Not confirmed horror — but worth keeping an eye on.

Genre Notes Beyond the Features

IFFR’s Tiger Short Competition also contains several titles that may appeal to genre audiences, including Domestic Demon, The Next World, Mirror Martyr Mirror Moon, and DISSONANCE, reinforcing Rotterdam’s quiet but consistent role in incubating experimental horror and speculative voices.

HMU Takeaway

Rotterdam 2026 may not be a midnight-heavy lineup, but it continues to function as an early signal for where genre cinema is mutating globally.

If you’re tracking horror and sci-fi with festival legs, these are the titles to watch:

• Talking to a Stranger (Top Priority)

• Yellow Cake

• Unerasable! (pending clarity)

• Cyclone (monitoring)

We’ll be keeping tabs as synopses expand, reactions roll in, and these films begin their next moves — because more often than not, Rotterdam is where tomorrow’s genre conversations quietly begin.

Stay tuned to Horror Movies Uncut for continued festival coverage and early reactions as IFFR 2026 approaches.