Access: Horror—the festival hailed by Forbes as one of the nation’s most accessible—will relaunch on August 1, 2025 as a hybrid event, blending an online program with an in‑person summit at DCTV Firehouse Cinema in New York City. Presented in partnership with the George A. Romero Foundation, the one‑day gathering adopts the tagline “So Inclusive, It’s Scary,” underscoring its mission to celebrate disability within horror and genre filmmaking.
Founder Ariel Baska will host the festival alongside Sharai Bohannon and Xero Gravity of the Blerdy Massacre podcast, while Fangoria editor‑in‑chief Phil Nobile Jr. will oversee the awards ceremony. Programming includes ten short films—among them “The Shadow Wrangler” by Severance actor Grace Rex, “Lady Parts” from filmmaker Ariel McCleese, and SXSW premiere “Tight” by Jessica Barr—plus panels on topics such as Blackness and disability in horror.
For the first time, horror streamer Shudder will host all Access: Horror shorts, amplifying the festival’s reach. The event’s broader context is shaped by current debates over Medicaid, Medicare, and disability rights, themes that Baska says fuel a “defiant celebration of inclusivity.”
Additional highlights include a silent auction benefiting participating filmmakers, featuring items like a fragment of the Blair Witch house, a Pittsburgh Horror Archive tour, and a creative consultation with the Adams Family of Hellbender fame. The evening will close with the live premiere of a new song by Maya Azucena, slated for Baska’s forthcoming documentary “Monstrous Me,” produced by Lilly Wachowski.
Looking beyond August, Access: Horror plans satellite events with Virginia’s Lost Weekend Film Festival and San Francisco’s Superfest Disability Film Festival, extending its commitment to community‑driven inclusion.
