“If Terrence Malick made a ghost movie, it might look something like Death of a Yellow Bird.” Black Fawn Films has revealed the first official festival trailer for the indie horror film titled Death of a Yellow Bird, made by Canadian indie genre filmmaker Cody Calahan. This is premiering soon at Fantastic Fest 2026 this month down in Austin, and will likely show up at other festivals as well. The initial synopsis is pretty simple: A ghostly voice speaks to a man through a VHS tape found buried beneath his childhood home. From the looks of it, this is the next liminal, vintage indie horror following Skinamarink, Backrooms, and Undertone. FF describes it as “slow-burn, atmospheric horror ” that “is sure to be one of the most cathartic experiences at this year’s fest.” Starring Ari Millen as the man. “When the man begins to hear the mysterious presence in his recordings, the film’s sound uses garbled, staticky words to communicate the otherworldliness of the entity and the man’s own mysterious past and identity. Would it surprise you to know the director was a producer on the soundscape horror Undertone from earlier this year?” Get a look at the scary footage below.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Cody Calahan’s film Death of a Yellow Bird, from YouTube:
After deciding to halt cancer treatment, an unnamed man travels to his family’s old cabin in the dead of a snowy winter to find some peace & quiet. Alone, with no outside contact besides difficult conversations with his mother and his wife, he starts to sense a strange presence. Haunted by a tragedy he can’t quite remember, finding an old camcorder and a collection of VHS home videos only makes the strangeness feel more acute. In an attempt to find some stability in his isolation, the man begins to film videos for his young son, but distortions and threatening sounds on the recorded tapes convince the man there is a ghost with him. Death of a Yellow Bird is directed by Canadian indie genre filmmaker Cody Calahan, director of the films Antisocial 1 & 2, Let Her Out, The Oak Room, Vicious Fun, and “The Haunted Museum” series previously. Produced by Chad Archibald, Cody Calahan, Jeff Maher, Ari Millen. This premieres at Fantastic Fest 2026 in Austin, TX this month. No other release date is set yet – stay tuned for more. Who’s intrigued?
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