Even though 2026’s SXSW was shorter than normal, it was packed with quality films ranging from studio pictures to incredibly small films (some featuring a cast and crew you can count on one hand!). There was a talking fox, Keke Palmer stealing clothing and our hearts, and Samara Weaving trying not to get murdered… in multiple movies.
Below is a list of our favorites from the festival to help you fill out your Letterboxd Watch List. The lineup was strong, so even movies outside of this Top 10 are worth keeping an eye out for, and we’ll include the team’s full list at the end.
Quick note: when the Cinapse team does a ranking collectively, we usually do it by ranked choice voting. Each team member submits a ranking of their ten favorite films, with number one receiving ten points, number two 9, and so on until their tenth ranked receives one point. The total was tallied, and below are the results!
#1 Over Your Dead Body
“Again, this review is seeking to avoid even the mildest of spoilers and should serve primarily as a full throated endorsement to seek out Over Your Dead Body knowing as little about it as you possibly can. Jorma Taccone has set out to delight and surprise you, to entertain and outsmart you. He succeeds wildly with a film that fires on all cylinders thanks to the creativity and camaraderie he’s clearly able to inspire on set and in post-production as well. Over You Dead Body is not only one of the funniest movies of 2026, but it’ll also boast some of the gnarliest stunts of the year, along with one of the most surprising and satisfying scripts we’re likely to get this year as well. Seek out Over Your Dead Body at your earliest convenience.” – Read Ed’s full review here.
#2 Leviticus
“Evolving past horror tropes that equate Queerness with death, Chiarella’s masterful film forcefully carves out room for a blindingly defiant joy. That despite the terror of longing, discovery, rejection, or bigotry, standing up for who and what you love remains just as powerful, natural, and lethal a weapon as any horror the world can cast upon you.” – Read Julian’s full review here.
#3 Hokum
“It’s a terrifically tense ride, with taut scenes that keep mysterious revelations, sharp humor, and genuine scares all within reach–and never in the order you’d expect. McCarthy knows just how to make you belly laugh before making you leap in your seat, scared out of your wits. That Hokum pulls this off with a largely single-character, single-room setting is a testament to how ambitiously McCarthy’s pushing himself as a writer-director–and how scarily often he succeeds.” – Read Julian’s full review here.
#4 Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice
“I challenge anyone to not be entertained by Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice. For the old school, you’ve got beautiful and talented actors charming us with their wit. And the drama that unfolds tugs at feelings most of us have experienced or wrestled with. For the new school, you’ve got clever time travel done cleanly and effectively, surprise twists and turns, and a little bullet ballet for good measure. You may not catch every cultural reference or laugh at every joke, but that’s okay, because you’re in the very specific human hands of BenDavid Grabinski, who has crafted this tale for you from the heart. ” – Read Ed’s full review here.
#5 Buddy
“Buddy was not my favorite thing I saw at SXSW this year. But it is by far the thing that stuck to me the most, that opened trains of thought about how we allow children to interact with mass media, how it literally reshapes their mind and sense of self, and the way that sense of self reflexively becomes tied to that early media. “Evil Barney” is a concept that could be and has been done in myriad different ways. The genius of Kelly is not just going for the easy shock, but to tie that low hanging fruit into a wider horror story about the way we long to live the lives we consume. You better keep loving Buddy forever, or else everything will quickly fall apart.” – Read Jay’s full review here.
#6 I Love Boosters
“An early punchline sees a character screaming “this is not the time for nuance!” This ends up feeling like a thesis for how Boots approaches satire: he is unapologetically political and extremely blunt, but never loses the goal of being entertaining above all else. I Love Boosters is just that – sometimes messy, definitely overstuffed, but always entertaining and told with a clear, unique voice. We need voices like his at this time in filmmaking’s history.” – Read David’s full review here.
#7 And Her Body Was Never Found
“It’s inspiring seeing something attempting this level of complexity made by just two people. And Her Body Was Never Found is exactly why you go to film festivals, to see something new and fresh and made through sheer will. In the worst case a movie like this is a purely technical exercise, albeit a fascinating one with a fun premise, but in this situation it helps that the movie is actually good.” – Read David’s full review here.
#8 Chili Finger
“If you are reading this early enough, are at SXSW and can see Chili Finger, I give my highest recommendation to do so. If you aren’t here, I can’t wait for whoever is lucky enough to pick it up releases it, and you should watch Chili Finger as soon as you possibly can. It is a special kind of movie, one that exposes the very contours of the American experience in beautiful and grotesque ways. It has such compassion for each flawed, doomed human it puts through its paces. It is beautiful and hysterical and horrifying all at once. A movie that immediately establishes Benda and Helstad as important filmmakers.” – Read Jay’s full review here.
#9 Normal
“Bob Odenkirk apparently isn’t done yet with his action phase of his career. It isn’t just a bit or a gimmick of stunt casting anymore. And with Normal, he proves he’s more than a one-trick pony dabbling in action. Derek Kolstad has become a massively influential voice as a writer, with practically every action film these days having shades of John Wick worldbuilding mixed in. And with Normal, he displays a growth and maturity, while still taking us on an entertaining ride. And Wheatley relishes his shot at a western and comes at the material with hunger to make something that not only lives up to a storied genre, but makes its own unique mark on it. Normal rides a fine tonal line and ultimately delivers a surprising slice of Americana that touches on modern stresses, allows for some characters to have dimensionality, and also blows the roof off with explosive and memorable action.” – Read Ed’s full review here.
#10 Kill Me
“Somewhat beyond genre descriptors, Kill Me is at times laugh out loud hilarious, at other times profoundly dark and touching on the depths of human suffering, and still other times mysterious and compelling like the best mysteries or thrillers. It’s a pretty astonishing debut from Warren, who manages to balance these tones quite adeptly. I will say that Kill Me’s commitment to keeping its cards close to its chest and vacillating constantly between Jimmy’s perceived reality and the reality perceived by other characters did begin to feel almost slavish by the end. I won’t spoil the film by any means, but perhaps intentionally Warren leaves the objective truth of what happened to Jimmy hazy, likely to put forth the argument that perception often can be reality for individuals struggling with mental health issues or those trying to support them. For my tastes, perhaps this paradigm was stretched just one or two twists too far.” – Read Ed’s full review here.
Full Ranking
Out of 117 feature films at this year’s SXSW, here’s the full list of our top 30 favorites, along with links to their reviews if we wrote one!
1. Over Your Dead Body
2. Leviticus
3. Hokum
4. Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice
5. Buddy
6. I Love Boosters
7. And Her Body Was Never Found
8. Chili Finger
9. Normal
10. Kill Me
…
11. Beast Race
12. The Fox
13. The Shitheads
14. Ready Or Not: Here I Come
15. Forbidden Fruits
16. Power Ballad
17. Monitor
18. Obsession (review from 2025’s Fantastic Fest)
19. Wishful Thinking
20. Drag
21. Mile End Kicks
22. Family Movie
23. Imposters
24. Never After Dark
25. The Last Critic
26. Mallory’s Ghost
27. Rock Springs
28. They Will Kill You
29 Black Zombie
30. The Saviors
