Fantastic Fest ’26: “What Happened to Doris?” Sees a Mother Fighting for Her Kids
Do you believe in ghosts? That fateful question has been asked at countless sleepovers around the world. Whether there is proof readily available to definitely answer the question one way or the other remains to be seen, and that allows this sleepover query to endure. Another question that’s being posed at the 2026 Fantastic Fest is What Happened to Doris? The film opens with some background information: “In 1974, just west of Los Angeles, a quiet neighborhood in Culver City became the site of unimaginable horror.” Director Nick Simon takes the true story of Doris Bither for a spin in this ’70s-throwback paranormal flick.
On a quiet street in Culver City lives the Bither family — mother Doris (Heather Graham), eldest son Ricky (Daniel Ferrell), middle child Brian (Kayden Alexander Koshelev), and only daughter Sylvia (Island Austin). Doris has recently had some strange dreams, and Sylvia keeps talking about a mysterious man under the bed. At first, Doris can ignore the dreams and her daughter’s observations as imagination, but that won’t work forever. One night, Doris believes she was held down and raped by a paranormal entity. She understands how that might sound to the outsider, but her friend (Candi Marie) leads her to two scientists (Marcus Coloma & Morgan Peter Brown) at the UCLA parapsychology department who are willing to investigate.
The “truth” of what really happened to Doris Bither depends on how you would answer the question that began this review. Do you believe in ghosts? If so, the case remains open. It was never formally resolved, and some refer to it as a milestone example of otherworldly entities. The main source of “proof” is a series of Polaroids that show light above Doris’ head, but skeptics have debunked it. All this to say, it feels unnecessary to talk about the factual inaccuracies of other parts of this movie when at the end of the day it’s a ghost story. The real Doris had four children instead of the film’s three and was illegally living in a condemned home. In What Happened to Doris?, the home is small, but clean and livable. It’s a good change that allows the focus to be on Doris and her attempts to care for her children.
Photo courtesy of Entity Returns LLC.
The family dynamic is the strong suit for What Happened to Doris?. Graham’s Doris may have a history of letting her kids down, but when push comes to shove, she’s willing to stare down a demon to protect them. Ferrell plays the angsty teen to a tee, while allowing some vulnerability to shine through. He’s the oldest of the kids and has had to experience his mother’s choices for the longest. Even though he doesn’t want to seem like he cares, he does. Koshelev is sweet as the middle child. He often finds himself in the background, a video camera glued to his hand, watching his family. To round out the family is Austin as the youngest child and the only daughter. Kids in horror movies are often given the difficult job of building dread by murmuring nonsensical things that come back to bite the adults in the ass. Austin’s rhythmic, unyielding muttering of “the man” over and over again in one scene is a prime example of a kid mastering the art of suspense.
As a whole, What Happened to Doris? is best described as sleepover fare in the best way. There aren’t a lot of complex plot points to follow, and this allows for ample giggling and teasing as the next jumpscare lies in wait. Even as someone who prefers more subtle scares, the way these jarring jumps are placed in the film works quite well. They’re not overused, but carefully deployed. One blink-and-you’ve-missed-it scare in the first few minutes primes the audience for the kind of haunted movie they’re getting themselves into. Even though it’s a story that is unique to a real woman, What Happened to Doris? has an air of predictability, a familiar set of beats for the grizzled horror fan, but perhaps something thrilling for the newcomers.
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