PREVIEW: Shadows of Willow Cabin (2026 Film) - By writer-director Joe Fria

By Jon Donnis

Buried traumas take on physical form in Shadows of Willow Cabin, where unseen wounds return as something far more tangible. Actor turned writer-director Joe Fria, known for Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 and The Belko Experiment, makes his feature debut with a blend of queer romance and supernatural horror that leans into mood, intimacy and unease.

Following its UK premiere at Raindance Film Festival 2026, Shadows of Willow Cabin arrives on UK digital on 29 June 2026 via GrimmVision.

Albert (Bryan Bellomo), a closeted husband, and Devon (John Brodsky), a wounded soul, withdraw to a remote mountain cabin after a connection forms through sexually charged messages exchanged on a dating app. What begins as hesitation and curiosity gradually shifts into closeness, as the two men move towards intimacy in isolation.

The cabin itself soon becomes part of the story in a more unsettling way. The walls seem to whisper with voices that were thought to be long silenced. Reality begins to distort as the space turns hostile, drawing the pair into a supernatural loop where time fractures, ghosts appear, and repressed trauma takes on visible, terrifying shape.

As the situation tightens and survival becomes uncertain, Albert and Devon are forced to confront the secrets they have carried, both within themselves and between each other, before the cabin overwhelms them completely.

Shadows of Willow Cabin unfolds as a tense and disorientating descent into identity, survival and love pushed to its limit, set against a space where memory and fear refuse to stay buried.

Apple TV - https://apple.co/4dEdiPg

PREVIEW: Shadows of Willow Cabin (2026 Film) - From actor turned writer-director Joe Fria

Preview by Jon Donnis

Buried traumas begin to take shape as something physical and inescapable in Shadows of Willow Cabin, a haunting new supernatural horror from actor turned writer-director Joe Fria, known for Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 and The Belko Experiment. The film blends romance with psychological horror, unfolding as a moody and intimate experience that plays out like a fevered descent into memory and fear.

Fria makes his feature debut with a confident fusion of tone and genre, drawing together emotional vulnerability and escalating unease. The result is a story that leans into both tenderness and dread, building a world where personal history refuses to stay buried and begins to reshape the present in unsettling ways.

Albert, played by Bryan Bellomo, and Devon, played by John Brodsky, retreat to a remote mountain cabin in search of space and connection. What begins as cautious desire slowly deepens into intimacy, until the environment around them starts to shift. The cabin itself becomes something far less passive, responding to what the couple have carried with them, and what they have tried to leave behind.

As the walls seem to whisper with voices thought to be silenced long ago, the pair find themselves trapped in a repeating, fractured sense of time. Ghosts emerge, reality bends, and repressed trauma begins to take form in ways that are no longer psychological alone. The cabin becomes a pressure point where identity, memory and fear collide.

Following its international premiere at Grimmfest 2025, Shadows of Willow Cabin arrives on UK digital 29 June, courtesy of GrimmVision

Apple TV https://apple.co/4dEdiPg