If you're a fan of found footage horror movies, especially lesser-known explorations within the subgenre, we've got an exclusive first look at the film Erie, set to debut in October at Beyond Fest. Directed by award-winning shorts filmmaker Alison-Eve Hammersley, Erie marks the feature debut of one of the genre's most promising new voices. Set in the last days of 1999, this new entry in the found footage canon will world premiere on October 1, 2026, at Beyond Fest.
The plot synopsis sounds perfect for the found footage format, with the film's title doubling as the setting. No, this is not Eerie, Indiana, but good ol' Erie, Pennsylvania. Check it out below:
Fall, 1999. In the town of Erie, Pennsylvania, a string of bizarre suicides has quietly unsettled the community. Stella and her brother, Oscar, return to their childhood home armed with nothing but an old camcorder, a few leads, and a desperate need to understand what's happened to their town… and to their sister. What begins as a personal investigation quickly spirals into something dark and unhinged, as they dig deeper into a pattern no one else seems willing to acknowledge. As the investigation twists through conspiracy theories, personal secrets, and local lore, what began as a search for answers becomes a descent into paranoia, grief, and something possibly far more sinister.
Erie stars Carly Stewart (Breakup Season) as Stella, Grant Crater (Church of Phil) as Oscar, and Ryan Garcia (NOPE) as Red. The exclusive clip we're glad to premiere shows Stella and Oscar looking for Red in a creepy, dilapidated building, with plenty of darkness to play tricks on our minds and convince us we're seeing something that may or may not be there. Give it a watch here:
Hammersley previously directed the viral short film Fragile.com, and the award-winning short You'll Only Have Each Other. She co-wrote the script for Erie with J. Batzli, who won the Shore Scripts Short Film Fund for her psychological thriller Little Anna. Hammersley and Anna Golin produced the film for Rat’s Nest Pictures, with Thomas Hartmann (Hal & Harper), genre producer George Henry Horton (Dark Atlantic; Dark Hollow, Strawstalker), and Matt Gossen.
I've been following Hammersley's work for many years, and it's exciting to see someone with a proven pedigree in short films make the jump to a feature. I've also met her multiple times, and I'm sure she wouldn't be offended by my saying this — she's got a really twisted sense of storytelling that fellow Sickos™ are sure to love.
If any of that shows up in Erie, we're in for a real treat. If you're curious about her previous work, many of her short films are available to watch through her website, which I highly recommend perusing. My personal favorites are Fragile.com and The Dinner Guest, but it's clear Hammersley has a strong grasp of the genre.
Erie is screening as part of a series of programming sponsored by MUBI at Beyond Fest, the highest-attended genre film festival in the United States, and a Q&A will follow the premiere with filmmaker Alison-Eve Hammersley, actors Carly Stewart and Grant Crater, co-writer J. Batzli, producer George Henry Horton, and producer and specialty character designer Matt Gossen.
It's happening at the Los Feliz 3 Theatre on Thursday, October 1, 2026, at 7:00 PM. RSVPs for the screening will go live at 9 a.m. on October 1, 2026, and you can RSVP by clicking here.
But if you're not in Los Angeles, don't fret, because Erie will also have its East Coast premiere at this year's Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.
