HEL:
Helsinki Horror Film Festival - Where Nordic Darkness Gets Under Your Skin

As the autumn nights stretch endlessly over Helsinki, something sinister stirs in the city's underground bunkers and abandoned hospitals. From October 10-19, 2025, the Helsinki Horror Film Festival takes over the Finnish capital, transforming it into a playground for psychological terror and folkloric nightmares—where the scares feel colder, quieter, and all the more unsettling.

A Festival of Slow-Burn Dread

This year’s lineup leans into Finland’s unique horror sensibilities:

  • "The Bunker Screenings" – Films projected in a decommissioned Cold War nuclear shelter, the walls still marked with emergency instructions
  • "Sauna Ghost Stories" – Directors test unfinished films on audiences trapped in a pitch-black smoke sauna
  • "The Midnight Forest Walk" – A guided tour through Helsinki’s Central Park, where actors bring Finnish folk demons to life

"Finnish horror isn’t about jump scares," says programmer Aleksi Hyvärinen. "It’s about the creeping realization that the landscape itself might hate you."

Why American Horror Fans Should Brave the Cold

While Austin has Fantastic Fest and NYC has Midnight Madness, Helsinki offers:
✓ The "Silent Scream" series – Horror films screened without subtitles or dubbing, forcing you to rely on pure atmosphere
✓ Real haunted locations – The festival’s opening night is held in Helsinki’s infamous "Ghost House," a 19th-century asylum-turned-hotel
✓ The "Black Metal Afterparty" – Where directors and musicians collaborate on live scores in a candlelit cathedral

PrestigeFly’s Nightmare Package
✈️ Business class flights with in-flight horror shorts curated by Finnish directors
🎟️ VIP passes to the "Directors’ Sauna" – where filmmakers debate horror tropes while sweating out their fears
🍖 A "Survival Dinner" at Shelter Restaurant – blood-red beet soup and game meat served in a bomb shelter
🕯️ A private tour of Helsinki’s most haunted sites with a paranormal investigator

"Last year, we got a client into an impromptu séance with the director of The Knocking Man," whispers PrestigeFly’s horror specialist Veera Koskinen. "Let’s just say… something answered."

Dare to book your nightmare getaway: www.prestigefly.com/helsinkihorror