Death of a Yellow Bird Fantastic Fest Review: Emotional Ghost Story Devastates More Than It Scares

In recent years, indie horror has undergone a transformation that challenges what the genre can truly be. Jump scares and gore have largely fallen out of style in favor of emotional, challenging storytelling that many have labeled “elevated horror” or “art horror.” Cody Calahan’s Death of a Yellow Bird falls into that category, but it will linger with you for far longer than any typical scary movie would.

What is Death of a Yellow Bird about?

Death of a Yellow Bird follows a terminally ill man who travels to his childhood home, an isolated cabin, and decides to record a video for his son. However, while he is there, he discovers a long-lost VHS tape that seems to communicate with him from the other side. It’s a very slow burn, but in a way that rewards patience with a cathartic, affecting experience.

Death of a Yellow Bird Review

In fact, the film’s pacing is so subdued that you’d almost be forgiven for thinking that it’s not much of a horror movie in the first place. If we’re talking about films that blur the lines between family drama and horror, Death of a Yellow Bird comes much closer to something like A Ghost Story than it does Hereditary. It’s not really trying to be particularly scary, instead opting for a poignant approach rooted in emotion.

It’s frankly shocking how strong a command Calahan has over the film’s themes. In a concise 90 minutes, Calahan touches on a variety of ideas and emotions, including fatherhood, grief, mortality, and a couple of others that can’t be discussed without spoiling the film in a way that feels very well-developed and sincere.

Where the film might lose even patient audiences is the third act, which is where the plot really kicks into gear. There is certainly a chance that some viewers will see how the film chooses to reveal the nature of the characters to be a bit tear-jerking and emotionally manipulative, but it resonates, mostly because of the level of authenticity that everyone involved brings to the film.  

The biggest credit deserves to go to actor Ari Millen, who basically carries the entire film on his shoulder. You might recognize Millen for his character work, or perhaps from his role earlier this year in Ice Cream Man, but his role in Death of a Yellow Bird couldn’t be more different from that. Whereas his work in Ice Cream Man was dialogue-free, this film is full of emotional monologues that involve him talking to a camera. Yet Millen still manages to captivate the audience through all of these moments.

Death of a Yellow Bird is also extremely impressive from a technical standpoint. In many ways, it does play into the analog horror renaissance, revitalized by such films as Skinamarink and the like. However, it also has a lot of aesthetic shots that earned it a comparison to Terrence Malick in the festival programmer notes (that’s perhaps a bit exaggerated).

The other aspect of the film that is very strong is the sound design, although this should come as no surprise considering that much of the team worked on A24’s undertone earlier this year. This is where much of the “horror” comes from, as Calahan and his crew create a soundscape that is genuinely spooky and immersive in a way that sets the tone very well.

Is Death of a Yellow Bird worth watching?

Death of a Yellow Bird is a strong debut for Cody Calahan — a “horror” (or at least horror-like) film packed with emotion, excellent sound design, and a stunning performance by Ari Millen. While it may be too slow to keep the attention of impatient viewers, those who connect with the film on an emotional level will find it to be truly compelling.

Death of a Yellow Bird is screening at the 2026 edition of Fantastic Fest, which runs September 17-24 in Austin, TX.

Death of a Yellow Bird Fantastic Fest Review: Emotional Ghost Story Devastates More Than It Scares