We love a good haunted house story here at Truly Disturbing, but NEVER AFTER DARK looks like it has something considerably nastier waiting behind those doors. The official trailer has arrived for writer and director Dave Boyle’s Japanese horror film, which has already picked up some serious attention on the festival circuit.
The film stars Moeka Hoshi, who horror fans may recognize from SHOGUN, as Airi, a wandering medium who travels from place to place helping restless spirits move on. That sounds like a pretty dangerous occupation on its own, but things take a much darker turn when Airi is summoned to an isolated country house and encounters an apparition unlike anything she has dealt with before.
As Airi investigates the property and begins digging into its history, she discovers that the haunting is tied to something much deeper. The spirit isn’t simply angry, either. It is grotesque, aggressive and capable of pushing Airi beyond what she thought she understood about the supernatural. The deeper she goes, the more she realizes that whatever is waiting for her inside the house may not be the greatest danger.
That distinction is a big part of what caught our attention. NEVER AFTER DARK eventually turns the idea of the haunted house on its head by making the living just as threatening as whatever is lurking beyond the grave. SXSW’s official description specifically calls it a story where Airi is forced to confront “the most terrifying enemy of all: the living.”
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR “NEVER AFTER DARK” BELOW
Hoshi leads a cast that includes Kento Kaku, Kurumi Inagaki, Mutsuo Yoshioka, Bokuzo Masana and Tae Kimura. Boyle also produced the film alongside Kaku and Kosuke Tsutsumi, with Patrick Ouziel handling cinematography and Jonathan Snipes providing the original score.
The film premiered at SXSW 2026 as part of the Midnighter lineup before making its way through the festival circuit, including the Overlook Film Festival and Fantasia. At Fantasia, the festival praised Boyle’s approach to the haunted house story and highlighted Hoshi’s performance as Airi.
Now NEVER AFTER DARK is headed to U.S. theaters on Sept. 25, 2026, through Magnolia Pictures. The film runs 105 minutes and is presented in Japanese with English subtitles.
