Sinister Horror Film Festival is an international festival based in Mexico City, dedicated to discovering, presenting, and celebrating outstanding work in horror and dark visual culture.

Created by filmmakers, Sinister was founded on a simple belief: exceptional work deserves to be seen, and the people behind it deserve to be recognized.

Each year, the festival brings together feature films, short films, screenplays, animation, music videos, and photography from creators around the world. Our programming is carefully curated with one principle at its core: quality comes first.

We look for work distinguished by its storytelling, direction, atmosphere, visual language, technical execution, originality, and overall impact. Sinister embraces different expressions of the genre — from psychological and supernatural horror to thrillers, sci-fi horror, dark fantasy, experimental work, and other forms of dark storytelling.

But selection is only part of the experience.

Sinister was designed to make participating artists feel genuinely part of the festival. Screenings, red-carpet moments, interviews, photography, networking, food, drinks, awards, and celebration come together to create an environment where filmmakers, artists, audiences, and the people behind each production can meet, connect, and share their work.

For audiences, Sinister is a place of discovery: an opportunity to experience remarkable horror being created across different parts of the world and to see what the genre looks like right now.

The festival takes place annually in Mexico City and extends beyond the physical event through curated online programming, the Sinister Awards, and Sinister Magazine — our year-round editorial platform dedicated to exceptional films, artists, ideas, and developments across horror culture.

Sinister is not built around showing everything.

It is built around finding what deserves attention.

Horror is our territory. Excellence is our standard.