2026 FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards: Best First Feature Nominees

Kane Parsons’ Backrooms took the box office by storm earlier this year and is easily set to become one of the most successful horror movies of 2026. While Parsons cut his teeth on the liminal tale with his viral YouTube series, Backrooms marks his first feature film, and has easily established him as one of the most talented young directors working at the moment.

Praised for his eye for creepy aesthetics and patiently paced dread, Parsons already has studios vying to be the one to bring his next project to life. Will a FANGORIA Chainsaw Award be the cherry on top of an already incredible year for the 21 year old filmmaker?

Simon Glassman’s Buffet Infinity is easily one of the most creatively bonkers horror movies of 2026, and has already established the Canadian filmmaker as one to watch. The consumerist satire, told entirely through mock television commercials, weaves a tale of two restaurants vying for top place in a fictional Alberta town, but of course, the reality is far more sinister and surreal.

Buffet Infinity has been a hit on the festival scene throughout the year, with fans already excited to see what Glassman will cook up next.

Hannibal helmer Bryan Fuller makes his feature debut with the fantasy horror Dust Bunny, featuring fellow Chainsaw Award nominee Mads Mikkelsen as an assassin hired by an eight year old girl to kill the monster under her bed. Also featuring David Dastmalchian, Sigourney Weaver, and Sheila Atim, Fuller creates a gateway horror film for young ones as he toys with the idea of childhood fears becoming real.

While Fuller's television work has already established him as an incredible director, Dust Bunny more than proved that he's adept at weaving longer tales with both style and substance, and Chainsaw Award would be the icing on the cake.

2026 may well go down in horror history as the Year of the YouTuber, with Kane Parsons’ Backrooms and Curry Barker’s Obsession  wiping the floor with the competition at the box office this year. But before both of them came the debut feature from Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach. One of the most notable streamers of all time, Markiplier broke out of the small screen and onto the big with sci-fi horror Iron Lung, which he not only directed but also starred in, produced, and distributed.

Based on a 2022 video game of the same name, Iron Lung’s atmosphere of slow burn dread garnered praise from critics and put Fischbach on the map as a determined filmmaker able to take a low-budget and spin it into something remarkable.

As her name suggests, Tina Romero is a descendant of horror royalty, and well on her way to carving out a space for herself in the canon with her own work, too. Romero’s gloriously queer zombie romp Queens of the Dead pays loving homage to both the groundbreaking work of her father George and her beloved Brooklyn, and has humor and heart in spades.

As huge Tina Romero fans at FANGORIA (she’d had her own cover and everything) we’d of course be over the moon to see her take home the Chainsaw Award for Best First Feature. If you feel the same, get out there and get voting.