The annual Boston Underground Film Festival (BUFF) is returning to the Brattle Theatre with an array of bizarre, absurd, and spine-tingling features. Running from March 18 to 22, the five-day fest is bringing a mix of New England premieres, midnight movies, and short film packages.
According to artistic director Mark Anastasio, the theme of BUFF 2026 is summed up as “mayhem.” Festival director Phil Healy described it as a “mélange of inclusivity and derangement,” highlighting voices which are “different, great, crazy, and unseen.”
To Healy, one of the best aspects of BUFF is the potential to be surprised by underground cinema. In an interview with BINJ, he said unexpected movies can “get you on your toes, make you rethink who you are […] I would liken it to a proper hallucinogenic experience.”
BUFF programming and operations manager Kim Baillargeon seconds the sentiment. “You really experience them,” she added. “They make you reflect; they make you think about other people’s lives.” Healy agreed: “They’re vessels for us to live that life, and ride that wave—at least for a time.” Certain visuals, he warned, may get “burned into your retina.”
Baillargeon said that what sets BUFF apart is the “animated, passionate” atmosphere of the filmgoers. She first encountered BUFF while working as a manager at the Brattle. She found that BUFF audiences “seemed to have the most fun,” offering a “palpable” curiosity about movies: “The communal energy that was in the space—there’s nothing like it.”
Healy believes that “giving yourself to the crowd,” in scenarios such as film festivals, is “part of the human experience,” akin to joining “the superorganism.” He recalled a time in his childhood when his brother tricked his parents into allowing them to see the supernatural slasher flick “Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday.” The screening was “bedlam,” with completely “insane” energy among the audience. “It stays with me to this day. […] That changed my life. That was something that I’ll never forget.”
What BUFF has in store for 2026
BUFF opens on Wednesday with an evening screening of the new Ben Wheatley action movie “Normal.” The film stars Bob Odenkirk, who will attend as a special guest. That will be followed by the satirical Canadian horror comedy feature “Buffet Infinity.”
Healy describes Thursday’s lineup as evocative of “Tim Robinson style comedy […] John Waters films, body horror, and also slapstick.” The day also features “The Serpent’s Skin,” which is co-presented by the Wicked Queer Film Festival, Boston’s annual LGBTQ+ film festival. Baillargeon said that like BUFF, Wicked Queer puts a spotlight on underrepresented voices. The punk sensibilities of “The Serpent’s Skin” will be followed by the cringe comedy of “The Hedonist” and the transgressive horror of “Sugar Rot.”
Friday’s lineup opens with the first shorts package of the festival. “The Dunwich Horrors” offers a creepy selection of works from New England’s filmmaking community. Healy said the “homegrown horrors” reflect BUFF’s close relationship with the local film scene. There’s also the East Coast premiere of “Obsession,” a festival darling scouted by Anastasio at TIFF 2025. After that comes “Cramps! A Period Piece,” which Baillargeon describes as a timely “coming-of-age feminist body horror film.”
Saturday’s selection brings a pair of shorts programs, as well as repertory screenings of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II” and “The Devil’s Rejects.” Baillargeon said that Boston-area filmgoers are “lucky to have so many repertory theatres,” which regularly screen independent or archival movies, including movies in 35 mm or 70 mm film. Between the Coolidge Corner Theatre, the Somerville Theatre, the Brattle, the Harvard Film Archive, the Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, and even Arlington’s Capital Theatre, viewers have plenty of opportunities to watch classic movies on the big screen. Healy noted that the Brattle is the only rear projection theatre in the country, “which is insane.”
At midnight on Friday and Saturday, BUFF will shift from the Brattle to the Coolidge for a screening of midnight shorts. Healy regards this program, called “I Hate it Here,” as a “very vile, beautiful, funny, new […] catalogue of pieces,” and a “quintessential” representation of BUFF. Running alongside the shorts program will be midnight screenings of the cult film classic “The Exorcist II: The Heretic,” co-presented with Salem Horror Fest. The making of “The Exorcist II” is explored in the documentary “Boorman and the Devil,” which will be screened back at the Brattle on Saturday afternoon.
Sunday’s lineup further showcases local talent through the shorts program New England Esoterica. Baillargeon shouted out Avalon Fast’s full-length narrative feature “Camp” as one of the festival’s female-directed films about “the experience of being a woman.” The same could be said of the film “Saccharine,” which BUFF will co-present with the Boston Asian American Film Festival. BUFF will wrap up with a Hong Kong martial arts movie called “The Furious.”
BUFF’s growth through the years
For 2026, BUFF received a record number of film submissions; Baillargeon praised the programming team for reviewing the 740-plus films that were submitted. Artistic director Anastasio also actively scouted out suitable movies to extend invitations to. Of the selected lineup, five films will win the annual Bacchus Awards. There will be three audience choice awards, two director’s choice awards, and an award for the best New England short.
In some respects, underground cinema has grown more accessible through the advent of the internet. Streaming services such as Shudder and Bloody Disgusting may cater to niches. Letterboxd enthusiasts may praise cult features. Still, according to Healy, “sometimes, it’s a rigged game.” Though avenues exist for unusual movies to find their audiences, he still thinks “it’s the same kind of struggle, for every underground artist, to reach people.”
As a festival director, Healy emphasized BUFF’s commitment to giving such films greater visibility. If viewers want to re-watch a movie, or simply missed a screening altogether, they can check out the BUFF-o-Stream: a webpage displaying streaming service links for many previous BUFF films. The festival has been sponsored by streaming platforms such as Shudder and Deliver Films. Healy suggested that some BUFF films may be absorbed by mainstream audiences “more easily than people may think.”
Both Baillargeon and Healy refer to Boston as a special place for film enthusiasts. A Fitchburg State graduate, Healy noted there are several film schools and communications programs in the area, producing talented artists and technicians. A filmmaker himself, Healy said he has belonged to a “pool of creatives or crazies” for more than 20 years.
Baillargeon has likewise “fallen in love” with Boston’s film scene of like-minded spirits: “There’s something about the community in this area … It’s my people, basically.”
