The 21st edition of the genre film festival runs September 17th thru 24th
Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more. The 21st edition of Fantastic Fest is nearly upon us, and the Cinapse crew will be representing on the ground here in Texas. Our bodies and souls are braced for 8 days of genre cinema and the madcap events the programmers have in store. Check out below our team’s most anticipated features from this year’s lineup. We’ll be pushing out coverage throughout the fest, so check back on Cinapse daily for insights and to check we’re still surviving. Chaos reigns!
Spencer Brickey
3 Weeks After – One of the more niche subgenres that has become one of my favorites over the years at Fantastic Fest is what I’ll call the “the kids aren’t alright” genre. These are films that follow adolescents, usually at the cusp of puberty or already going through the throes of it, as they either get into some really messed up shit, or find their world collapsing due to the onset of the terrors of adulthood. Films like 2021’s The Innocents, 2022’s Nothing, or 2025’s The Plague are worlds built out of pubescent malaise and rage, as kids learn about their capacity for cruelty, while still developing their ability to empathize. It looks like this year’s version of that is 3 Weeks Later. Based on the description, we’re in for a bit of a Lord Of The Flies situation, as a bus full of European children have their social structures broken down and their vicious instincts come to the forefront. The description warns “this is not a pleasant film”, which is just a ringing endorsement for me. I’m always looking for (at least) one feel-bad movie from each Fantastic Fest, and it looks like I’ll have my wish with 3 Weeks Later.
Compliance – The world’s been…rough for a while now. What continues to exacerbate this feeling of going down the drain is modern technology, which seemingly has left the world of improving our lives, and has instead shifted into commodifying our every last interaction, entire systems designed to act as digital voyeurs. Compliance, based on the description, focuses on that exact “new normal” of surveillance, of the constant observation we are under, and how the concept of “consent” has slowly started to erode away in the new digital landscape. Expecting this to be another dour, mean-spirited one, and I’m here for it!
River – I love me a good isolated horror film, and River promises to be just that. As someone who was on rivers quite a bit in my youth, there was always something a bit creepy about them; mostly the fact that, even though they seemed like little water expressways, there would be vast expanses of distance and time where you were essentially in the middle of nowhere, and if things went bad, you could be stuck there for who knows how long before someone came along to help. It’s a perfect setting to plop a killer, and River has done exactly that. Add in the consistent praise of this being the “most terrifying of the year”, and I’m sold!
Resident Evil – I became a ride-or-die for Cregger the moment Barbarian hit us with “Be My Baby” over the credits. He’s crafted two masterclasses of horror in Barbarian and Weapons, and from everything I’ve seen regarding Resident Evil, I expect to both be terrified and laugh a lot.
Primetime – “To Catch A Predator” was just a really weird phenomenon. I can distinctly remember this being appointment viewing in my household in high school, and seeing marathons of it on TV as late as the mid-2010’s. We were hooked on the very specific lurid nature of it all, while also being able to hide behind the “moral good” of it all.
Because of the bitter taste that era left in my mouth, Primetime has become my #1 most anticipated of the year. Looking back at the peak of insanity of reality TV, all through a Nightcrawler-esque lens? Baby, you got yourself a stew cooking.
Honorable Mentions: Secret Screenings – Obviously, we don’t know what these are yet, but I’ve always found these to be one of the most enjoyable parts of the fest in previous years. Not even the films themselves, just the anticipation. Spending the whole day guessing between friends and strangers alike, wondering what it’s going to be. All the rumors that pop-up throughout the day, of having seen a certain celebrity, or overhearing a certain conversation between programmers. Hell, it’s one of the best ice breakers for newbies to the fest (If you want to make friends, just ask the person next to you in the theater “so, what do you think the secret screening is?”).
So, just like in years past, I’ll spend all of Friday and Monday guessing, pondering, and hoping. Looking forward to brainstorming with all of you there!
My personal Secret Screening guesses
Genuine guesses: The Other Mommy, Whalefall.
Hopeful guesses: Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, October (The new Saulnier siege film).
The no-way-in-hell-but-would-be-super-cool guesses: Flanagan’s Exorcist film, The Further Misadventures Of Cliff Booth.
Jon Partridge
Let’s get the big guns out of the way first, starting with the opening night (gala?) screening of Resident Evil. Zach Cregger has carved out his good graces with two impactful, expertly constructed, and wickedly entertaining slices of horror in Barbarian and Weapons. Bringing his talents to an all new adaptation of a video game series he is an unabashed fan of sounds like a recipe for success and I’m hoping the adrenaline spike from this sustains the rest of the festival.
The other headliner of note is Primetime. Having grown up in the UK, the legend around Dateline: To Catch a Predator wasn’t a thing for me, so I have no investment from that perspective, baring a viewing of last year’s Predators documentary. The real draw is Robert Pattison who is on a generational run this year (The Drama, The Odyssey, and Dune 3 incoming) with his work looking to peak with his turn as Chris Hansen.
I’m always a fan of the “don’t watch/listen to that tape left behind by a dead person” trope (see Man Finds Tape, Undertone, and Monitor as recent year examples). At this year’s fest we have Josh Tanner’s Posthumous which delivers a ghost story through a VHS tape, meaning a trip into family secrets, unloading of grief, a good old haunting and an analogue aesthetic to add to the horror effect.
One of the standouts int he lineup is another that embraces old-school effects, Kylgor in the Grisly Abyss. Thhe directorial debut from writer/director Mason Jeffrey Newton-DeRushie, it looks like a mashup of The Muppets, Conan the Barbarian, and hints of The Evil Dead. Hoping for some gleeful puppet horror action from that one.
Finally, it’s Zachary Wigon’s Victorian Psycho. Set in 1858 and centered around an off-kilter governess whose arrival at a stately home coincides with a series of grisly murders. The trailer looks like it will deliver gothic horror vibes along with slasher fun, but the cast is a standout here. Maika Monroe in the lead always delivers when she steps into a horror role Longlegs, It Follows, Watcher and seeing her cut a little loose with this madcap role is sure to entertain. With a supporting cast that includes standouts like Thomasin McKenzie, Jason Isaacs, and Ruth Wilson, this one might have the makings of a cult classic.
Julian Singleton
The Face of Horror: Between her breakout debut The Love Witch and her stylish, surreal shorts, Anna Biller has proven herself a creative force bending dazzling technicolor retro imagery to her will. Biller’s track record has many rushing to see her long-awaited follow-up, The Face of Horror – but even more exciting for a J-Horror nerd like me is that it’s the first English-language adaptation of Yotsuya Kaidan, the classic Japanese horror tale.
Tsuruya Nanboku IV’s kabuki play has been a horror mainstay in Japan through countless film adaptations–most famously Nobuo Nakagawa’s 1959 version, which borrowed the vivid palette of in-vogue Hammer horror films and also went on to inspire the vengeful yurei ghosts of Ring and Ju-on.
Biller re-stages Yotsuya Kaidan in a similarly dazzling medieval setting, rich with torch-lit velvet straight from a Christopher Lee Dracula or similarly one of Roger Corman’s Poe cycle. Her choice reflects a keen sense of history–both of her Japanese source material and the stylistic lineage of its more feted adaptations–and I’m eager to see how this latest iteration finds new resonance with a modern, Western audience.
Primetime: 2026 is Robert Pattinson’s year, and we’re all just living in it. Likely the crown jewel performance in a year already chocked with The Drama and The Odyssey and with Dune: Part Three on the way, I can’t wait to see how Pattinson’s take on Chris Hansen provokes us to unsettlingly insightful ends. A year removed from personally working in reality TV and docuseries, I’m also irresistibly drawn to stories that turn the camera back on the people who shape others’ lives into entertainment–and how they reckon with the consequences, heroic or damning, of that narrative power.
The Spiral: Paolo Strippoli’s The Holy Boy was my biggest surprise of last year’s Fantastic Fest–and his stripped down, emotionally raw approach to horror already has me seated for his follow up film. The Spiral’s plot description already evokes the darkly witty generational terror of something like Hereditary or fest favorite When Evil Lurks – and a story that unfolds over decades makes me think Strippoli’s second film harbors an even darker, brutal patience that will well reward a festival audience open to its slow-burn frights.
The Birthday Party: Keeping up the theme of major Fest surprises, The Five Devils remains in my pantheon of Fantastic Fest films I’m grateful I took a chance on–and still makes me choke up every time I hear “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Lea Mysius’ Birthday Party seems like a hell of a different animal–foregoing the magical realism of Devils for a deeply tense, Hanekian home invasion. But as someone quickly won over by Mysius’ uncanny knack for succinct, gut-piercing glimpses of human behavior, I can’t wait for whatever wild ride she’ll take me on this time. I can only hope that the already-incredible Monica Bellucci follows in Devils’ Adèle Exarchopoulos’ footsteps in turning in one of her best performances under Mysius’ pensive gaze.
I wasn’t able to catch two of my most anticipated films of Fantasia 2026 this year–the Adams Family’s The Glorious Dead and Queer animated mayhem Jim Queen–so I’m very much looking forward to rectifying both blindspots alongside Fantastic Fest 2026’s vast wealth of genre riches.
Ed Travis
This year’s lineup doesn’t look particularly action-heavy, and those titles tend to be my focus both as a fan and as regards Cinapse team coverage of the festival. I tend to be the action guy and cover my top picks from that genre. I’m really excited to attend the festival once again and I know I’ll find incredible gems in the program. But here’s my most anticipated titles, at least partly filtered through an action lens:
– Resident Evil: I was never a major player of the game series, but filmmaker Zach Cregger is red hot right now after back to back horror bangers in Barbarian and Weapons, and his take on this zombie property looks to be uniquely his own. I’ll be there ASAP to check this one out.
– Extreme Prejudice: The Fantastic Fest team is giving Walter Hill a lifetime achievement award at this year’s festival. Hill is probably a top 5 all time favorite filmmaker of mine, with Extreme Prejudice being an incredible pick from his impressive filmography. It’s a rep screening of a film I own a glorious high def disc of already, but I’m no less excited to cheer on one of my all time favorite filmmakers with one of his sweatiest and most violent epics.
– Wild Horse Nine: Writer/Director Martin McDonagh is a remarkable talent whose work sometimes hits and sometimes misses for me, but is never not obviously brilliant. In Bruges was so good that I’ll watch anything he ever makes from this point on, and his last film, Banshees Of Inisherin, proved he hasn’t lost a step. The buzz on this film is white hot and Fantastic Fest has a habit of showing us a few awards contenders that go on to be among that year’s very best. Fingers crossed.
– Attack On Paradise: I can’t say I’m highly familiar with the filmmakers behind this one, or the talent in front of the camera. But I need a little crime action in my Fantastic Fest lineup and this one looks like it has some major potential with a protagonist fresh out of prison and attempting to protect his mom from gangsters in a public high-rise.
– The Cycle: Something about the premise of this thriller intrigues me and writer/director Jordan Downey’s micro-budget fantasy horror feature The Head Hunter was an incredible achievement. Give that guy a little more money and a cast including Deborah Ann Wohl and Jeffrey Donovan and I have a feeling this guy will be cooking on a whole new level.
Honorable Mention: An Indian horror/action film called Half about half-vampire sisters on a revenge quest? Say less. I’m there.
Fantastic Fest 2026 runs Sept 17th thru 24th at the Alamo Drafthouse S. Lamar, Austin, TX.
