The Face of Horror brings medieval ghost revenge to Toronto
Revenge wears a shroud in Anna Biller's new film.
Writer-director Anna Biller brought The Face of Horror to the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival for its world premiere, according to festival materials. The story centres on a ghost in medieval England who rises from her grave to seek revenge on her husband, staged as a gory tribute to classic Technicolor horror films, as described in Deadline's Toronto Studio.
Its first screening was listed for Friday, Sept. 11 at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. The slot was Midnight Madness, Toronto's late-night section for horror and other loud genre titles. That placement matters. It puts a revenge story in front of the festival's most vocal crowd.
The film stars Jonah Hauer-King, Kristine Froseth, Ellie Bamber, Leo Suter and Bella Heathcote. It is presented as a 14th-century ghost story. It was filmed in Prague, and its plot turns on a knight who marries his devoted love after murdering her father, only to betray her later.
It is Biller's follow-up to The Love Witch, as noted by Deadline. The new film adapts a Japanese ghost story, listed by Toronto's sales coverage as part of its for-sale slate in its hot list. Festival materials identify that source as Yotsuya Kaidan. Trade coverage has also billed the project as a gothic horror-romance.
Biller appeared with Hauer-King and Froseth to discuss the film in Deadline's Toronto Studio. Froseth said the climax is driven by female rage. Playing her character in her power felt healing and liberating, she said.
Hauer-King did not spare his character. He described him as having a medieval fuckboy quality. He called him nasty, ambitious, impatient and greedy.
On the business side, WME is the US sales agent, meaning the agency is handling the sale of American distribution rights, according to Deadline's Toronto Studio. Toronto festivals like this one often double as a marketplace, where finished films look for buyers territory by territory.
What makes this stand out is the combination. Technicolor, the older Hollywood process known for rich, saturated colour, is the visual reference. A medieval English setting and a Japanese revenge structure give exhibitors and buyers a clear, colourful pitch.
