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Fantasia International Film Festival · 2026

Fantasia International Film Festival 2026

Features

Programme

43 films · 18 reviews

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After School (Straf)

A meek teacher faces rejection from family and colleagues. After his boss denies him a promotion due to his weak personality, he seeks help from a crude gym teacher whose advice leads to chaos.

(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2025; Director: Merijn Scholte Albers, Tobias Smeets; Writer: Caspar Smeets, Tobias Smeets, Merijn Scholte Albers; Stars: Rutger de Bekker, Ruben van der Meer, Sezgin Güleç, Kylian de Pagter-Colin, Raymonde de Kuyper)

Attack On Paradise

Review preview for Attack On Paradise

Director Bob Colaers shows us the strain in the way that Boumazoughe fights, which is its own kind of impressive.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Newly released after seven years in prison, Suleyman only wishes to return to Antwerp’s Paradise apartment complex and spend time with his ailing mother, but to protect her, he's going to need to fight cops and criminals alike.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2026; Director: Bob Colaers; Stars: Saïd Boumazoughe, Achmed Akkabi)

Full review See: Interview with Saïd Boumazoughe and Bob Colaers about Attack On Paradise

Big Break

Review preview for Big Break

The real test here will come down to how you feel about the characters.

Jennie Kermode · 2.5 out of 5
Years after Simple Town split up, three comics reunite with their successful ex-collaborator, leading to a fight for their lives (and careers) as it is revealed that one of them has become a serial killer.

(Year: 2026; Director: Ian Faria)

Full review

Blades Of The Guardians

A bounty hunter takes a job to protect a man on the long road to the city of Chang'an. However, he discovers the person he is protecting is the empire's most wanted bounty. Now, every greedy faction is after them.

(Country: China; Year: 2026; Director: Yuen Wo-Ping; Writer: Tai-Lee , ChanChao-Bin Su, Larry Yang; Stars: Jing Wu, Nicholas Tse, Yosh Yu, Chen Lijun, Sun Yi-zou, CiSha)

Bowels Of Hell (Privadas De Suas Vidas)

Review preview for Bowels Of Hell

The production values here are a cut above what one would normally expect for something with this theme and these characters.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
A mother battling trauma faces a surreal nightmare when toilets mysteriously transform into killer beings, forcing her to confront both her personal demons and these bizarre supernatural threats.

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2026; Director: Gurcius Gewdner, Gustavo Vinagre; Stars: Antonia Baudouin, Gurcius Gewdner, Gustavo Vinagre, Chandelly Braz, Benjamín Damini, Maria Gladys, Caetano Gotardo, Bruce LaBruce)

Full review

Break Free

Review preview for Break Free

Fujii is a trained dancer very much at ease in the role, but it’s his ability to be both po-faced and charismatic that really makes this work.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
A middle-aged yakuza gangster finds a new direction in life after an improvised dance-off goes viral on TikTok.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Yu Nakamoto; Writer: Yu Nakamoto; Stars: Akito Fujii)

Full review See: Interview with Yu Nakamoto and Akito Fujii about Break Free

Buddy

A brave girl and her friends must escape a kids television show.

(Country: US, Israel, Canada; Year: 2026; Director: Casper Kelly; Writer: Casper Kelly, Jamie King; Stars: Cristin Milioti, Topher Grace, Delaney Quinn, Keegan-Michael Key, Michael Shannon, Patton Oswalt, Seamus Flynn, Madison Polan, Bryson JonSteele, Bennie Taylor, Mark Aaron Buerkle)

Cape Fear

A happily married couple face a growing threat when a notorious killer from their past, Max Cady, is released from prison and seeks revenge.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Morten Tyldum; Stars: Amy Adams, Javier Bardem, Patrick Wilson, Lily Collias)

Captured!

A middle school student who fears she’ll have to drop out of school and enter the workforce early to help her single mother make ends meet decides to start a vlog with the help of her best friend. In an effort to boost her popularity, they go to an abandoned building and film some fake scary footage, but end up actually haunted by an evil specter and a benevolent deity.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Koichi; Writer: Koichi; Stars: Runa Nakashima, Maikichi, Megumi Okina)

Colony (Gun-Che)

Review preview for Colony

Throughout, Yeon’s directorial skill and Byun Bong-sun’s stylish cinematography grip viewers’ attention.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
A biotechnology professor is among those trapped at a biotech conference after a rapidly mutating virus is released.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2026; Director: Yeon Sang-ho; Writer: Yeon Sang-ho, Choi Gyu-seok; Stars: Gianna Jun, Koo Kyo-hwan, Ji Chang-wook, Shin Hyun-bin, Kim Shin-rock, Go Soo, Kim Hyeong-mook)

Full review

Drag

Two sisters with a contentious relationship decide to rob a rural home in upstate New York. The simple robbery turns into a nightmare when one of them throws out her back and becomes immobilised on the second floor. The night spirals out of control as they embark on a painful journey to make it out before the homeowner returns.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Raviv Ullman, Greg Yagolnitzer; Writer: Greg Yagolnitzer, Raviv Ullman; Stars: Lizzy Caplan, Lucy DeVito, John Stamos, Christine Ko)

The Glorious Dead

A small-town sheriff and her deputy awaken to a changed world where blood drips from taps, people vanish, creatures roam the woods, and the dead rise as the town descends into chaos.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: John Adams, Toby Poser; Writer: John Adams, Toby Poser; Stars: John Adams, Lulu Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser, Judith Roberts)

Godhead

Review preview for Godhead

With little movement between locations, it’s easy to imagine this working as a stage play, and yet the framing choices matter a good deal.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Eccentric twins proclaim themselves prophets to a priest, blurring reality and delusion as they involve him in their supposed divine mission.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Mark H Rapaport; Writer: Mark H Rapaport; Stars: Luke Speakman, Al Warren, Kimball Farley, Sarah Coffey, Sidney Baxley, Mila Middleswarth)

Full review See: Interview with Mark H Rapaport about Godhead

God Skin

Desperate for money, Bangkok delivery boy Marwin discovers a clandestine arena where the wealthy wager on martial arts matches with a high-tech twist.

(Country: Thailand; Year: 2026; Director: Paween Purijitpanya; Stars: Sutthirak Subvijitra)

The Journey To Gyeong-ju

When the man responsible for their youngest daughter's death is suddenly released from prison, a grieving mother, Ok Sil, and her three daughters embark on a revenge-fueled road trip to Gyeongju.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2025; Director: Kim Mi-Jo; Writer: Kim Mi-Jo; Stars: Lee Jeong-eun, Kong Hyo-jin, Park So-dam, Lee Yeon, Kim Young Sung, Kim Se A)

Kokurojo: The Samurai And The Prisoner

A Japanese provincial lord finds himself making an ally of one of his prisoners when his castle comes under siege.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa; Writer: Kiyoshi Kurosawa; Stars: Masahiro Motoki, Masaki Suda, Yuriko Yoshitaka, Munetaka Aoki, Ryota Miyadate, Tasuku Emoto, Joe Odagiri, Yusuke Santamaria, Mitsuo Yoshihara, Ryota Bando, Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Ikkei Watanabe, Yoshimasa Kondo, Toshihiro Yashiba)

Kung Fu

An invincible, aging martial arts master transforms two young losers into powerful disciples who uphold justice. However, unfinished business from a previous life 500 years prior may soon shatter their bond and unleash new havoc.

(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2026; Director: Giddens Ko; Stars: Kai Ko, Berant Zhu, Gingle Wang)

The Last Footage

Review preview for The Last Footage

Hinges on that doubt still lingering in the minds of many modern people when they move out of reach of reassuring infrastructure and services.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Events unfold in almost-realtime, as the sun sets on the haunted Wingabar Forest and eerie howls pierce its night.

(Country: Myanmar; Year: 2026; Director: Arkar Soe Oo; Writer: Arkar Soe Oo; Stars: Kyaw Kyaw Bo, Charlie Nyein, Li Li Kyaw Khaing, Swan Htet Aung, Arkar Soe Oo, Mo Khum, Phyo Kant, Lain Maw Tee)

Full review

The Last Temptation Of Becky

Review preview for The Last Temptation Of Becky

Lulu Wilson’s impatient energy and Wexler’s panache are perfectly matched.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Now a CIA field agent, Becky goes undercover in Poland to infiltrate a family running an inn at The Wolf's Lair, one of Hitler's WWII bunkers. When she learns the father, Wilhelm Reuss, plans to spark the Fourth Reich, Becky must stop him.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Jenn Wexler; Writer: Jenn Wexler, Matt Angel, Suzanne Coote; Stars: Lulu Wilson, Neil Patrick Harris, Kate Siegel, James Urbaniak, Brandon Flynn)

Full review

Levitating

In a town where pleasure equals being possessed by spiritual beings, Bayu aspires to be the shaman of a trance party so he can fundraise enough money to prevent an impending eviction.

(Country: Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, France; Year: 2026; Director: Wregas Bhanuteja; Writer: Wregas Bhanuteja, Alicia Angelina, Defi Mahendra; Stars: Angga Yunanda, Maudy Ayunda, Anggun, Chicco Kurniawan, Bryan Domani, Indra Birowo, Ganindra Bimo, Ivonne Dahler, Muhammad Asyrof Al-Ghifari, Buyung Ispramadi)

Los Vampires

In 1930 Hollywood, a Spanish actor is cast in the night shoot of a soon-to-be-legendary vampire film, forced to imitate the English-speaking star who performs the same role by day. The two actors regularly meet at the transitory hours of their shoots, and a rivalry stirs between them. All the while, a string of murders are occurring on and around the soundstage.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Craig Mitchell; Writer: Craig Mitchell; Stars: Henry Ian Cusick, Daniela Couso, Thomas Kretschmann, Jorge Diaz, Oscar Nuñez, Carol Abney)

Motherwitch

Eleni, a painter in Cyprus in 1882, reaches into the shadows to resurrect her lost children, but instead summons the ancient Kalikantzari of Cypriot lore. She must now confront the storm of her grief and anger, and lift the curse.

(Country: Cyprus, North Macedonia, US; Year: 2026; Director: Minos Papas; Writer: Evripidis Dikaios, Nikolas Kouroumtzis, Minos Papas; Stars: Margarita Zachariou, Miltos Yerolemou, Danae Katsameni, Dimitri Andreas, Athos Antoniou, Marina Makris)

The Mouths

A rumor circulates about a cursed tree standing in the center of a supposedly haunted cemetery and a group of university students decides to tempt fate by visiting this legendary spot in the dead of night.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Takashi Shimizu)

Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant

Review preview for Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant

A strangely honest take on how people cope with the shock of impending parenthood.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
When a messy millennial underachiever accidentally gets alien-pregnant she must overcome sceptical doctors, a useless baby-daddy, and her oversharing mum in order to survive and reclaim her life.

(Country: New Zealand/Aotearoa; Year: 2026; Director: Sean Wallace, Jordan Mark Windsor; Writer: Jordan Mark Windsor; Stars: Hannah Lynch, Yvette Parsons, Arlo Green, Jackie van Beek, Ariadne Baltazar)

Full review See: Interview with Jordan Mark Windsor and Sean Wallace (aka Thunderlips) about Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant

Mutation

A Korean man tired of explaining his mixed heritage offers a mysterious suitcase to anyone who'll travel with him. A woman searching for her missing partner accepts, leading them both on a journey of self-discovery and friendship.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2025; Director: Shin Su-won; Writer: Shin Su-won; Stars: Han Hyun-min, Lee Joo-young)

Nameless

Review preview for Nameless

Although the film is quite tightly plotted, with the police racing to catch Toro before he strikes again, Jōjō is really more interested in the men’s internal journeys.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Watching bizarre footage of a massacre in a café, a police detective is horrified to recognise something he has seen before.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Hideo Jōjō; Writer: Hideo Jōjō, Jirō Satō; Stars: Katsushi Kubo, Ryûhei Maruyama, Megumi, Ayumu Mochizuki, Kuranosuke Sasaki)

Full review

Never After Dark

Review preview for Never After Dark

Like all the best supernatural tales, it keeps the rules simple but still manages to wrongfoot viewers.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A wandering medium, Airi spends her life guiding restless spirits out of the world of the living. Summoned to an isolated country house, she comes face to face with a grotesque apparition with powers that defy her experience - but the biggest danger she faces comes from the living.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2025; Director: Dave Boyle; Writer: Dave Boyle; Stars: Moeka Hoshi, Kento Kaku, Kurumi Inagaki, Mutsuo Yoshioka, Bokuzo Masana, Tae Kimura)

Full review

Nightborn (Yön Lapsi)

Review preview for Nightborn

Writer/director Hanna Bergholm walks the line with skill.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
In Finnish forest, Saga and her husband Jon embark on a new chapter as parents. But Saga's joy is overshadowed by a chilling suspicion about their newborn, unbeknownst to Jon, causing a rift as she alone grapples with the disturbing truth.

(Country: Finland, France, UK, Lithuania; Year: 2026; Director: Hanna Bergholm; Writer: Hanna Bergholm, Ilja Rautsi; Stars: Seidi Haarla, Rupert Grint, Pamela Tola, Pirkko SaiSio, Rebecca Lacey, John Thomson)

Full review

Niko

Review preview for Niko

By taking us into the interior space of a type of character usually only seen from the outside, Birban Levy is able to engage with the romantic as more than an observed trope.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
In dystopian Seoul, with curfew and lockdown in effect, broke screenwriter Niko suddenly disappears. As her boyfriend Jeremy and new bestie Ji-eun try to locate her, they become unexpectedly intertwined in a love triangle.

(Year: 2026; Director: Julien Birban Levy; Writer: Julien Birban Levy; Stars: Tiffany Young, Sandor Funtek)

Full review See: Interview with Julien Birban Levy about Niko

The Origin Of Ultraman

Review preview for The Origin Of Ultraman

The unfussy format suits the clarity and minimalism of the Ultraman design and narratives.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A celebration of the superhero from Nebula M78 and his appearances in films, on television, and in wider Japanese culture.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Yu Nakamura, Kazuki Yoshida; Stars: Hirokazu Kore-eda, Hideaki Anno, Hideo Kojima, Nicolas Winding Refn, Guillermo Del Toro, Pat Cadigan)

Full review

Penny Lane Is Dead

Set in 1986, during a scorching Aussie summer, three best friends' celebration at a beach house turns into a blood-soaked fight for survival when a prank goes horribly wrong.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2025; Director: Mia Kate Russell; Writer: Mia Kate Russell; Stars: Ben O'Toole, Steve Le Marquand, Alexandra Jensen, Sophia Wright-Mendelsohn, Fletcher Humphrys)

Recluse

Follows Joan, an audio engineer who lives a solitary life, struggling to determine whether the horrors she encounters are real and caused by past actions of her father, or if they are manifestations of her own troubled mind.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Henry Chaisson; Writer: Henry Chaisson; Stars: Sasha Frolova, Kimball Farley, Toby Poser, Mia Vallet, Xander Berkeley, Thomas Cancellara, Gillian Cooper, Christine Nyland)

Sicko

Happily married couple Azamat and Tancho live a carefree life until Azamat is forced to face his mounting debts. In desperation, they come up with a scheme to fake Stage 4 cancer for Tancho and raise money through crowdfunding - but success leads to temptation.

(Country: Kazakhstan; Year: 2026; Director: Aitore Zholdaskali; Stars: Ayan Utepbergen, Dilnaz Kurmangali, Azat Zhumadil, and Aida Kurmangaliyeva)

The Specials

A legendary former assassin who now lives a quiet life, working at a children's home, unexpectedly acquires an opportunity to eliminate the eccentric boss of the powerful Honjo-kai at a dance competition he attends.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Eiji Uchida; Stars: Shô Aoyagi, Yuzuki Hirakawa, Renji Ishibashi, Yoshihisa Ishida, Aki Maeda)

Suzuki=Bakudan

While being interrogated at a police station, a mysterious drunk man claims that he has psychic powers by predicting bombs that will soon explode, one being activated every hour.

(Country: Japan; Director: Akira Nagai; Stars: Jiro Sato, Yuki Yamada)

Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma

Review preview for Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma

Anderson and Einbinder are a terrific pairing.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
When the Camp Miasma slasher franchise is handed to a new director, she visits the original movie's star only to fall into a blood-soaked world of desire and delirium.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2026; Director: Jane Schoenbrun; Writer: Jane Schoenbrun; Stars: Hannah Einbinder, Gillian Anderson, Amanda Fix, Arthur Conti, Eva Victor, Zach Cherry, Sarah Sherman, Patrick Fischler, Dylan Baker, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Kevin McDonald, Quintessa Swindell, Jack Haven, Jess McLeod, Louise Weard)

Full review

Tokyo Burst: Crime City

Review preview for Tokyo Burst: Crime City

The action in the film is impressive throughout but is never allowed to overwhelm it.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A rookie detective from Tokyo’s red-light district must team up with a counterpart from Seoul with equally questionable practices, to track down a dangerous criminal spreading terror across Japan, Korea, and the Philippines.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Eiji Uchida; Stars: Koshi Mizukami, Jung Yunho, Park Ji-hwan, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Uhm Ki-joon)

Full review

Trauma Or, Monsters All

Review preview for Trauma Or, Monsters All

Characters who belong to a fairy tale or folkloric world struggle to contain themselves in flesh, edged out by the existence of mere mortals who, despite their vulnerability, forever push them to the edges of the narrative.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
An aspiring author gets more than she bargained for when she writes an article for the local paper about her small town’s dark history, prompting unwanted speculation on what monsters may lie within.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Larry Fessenden; Writer: Larry Fessenden; Stars: Laëtitia Hollard, Aitana Doyle, Addison Timlin, Alex Hurt, Alex Breaux, Larry Fessenden, John Speredakos, Cody Kostro, Marc Senter, Rigo Garay, Barbara Crampton, James Le Gros, Joshua Leonard)

Full review See: Interview with Larry Fessenden and Aitana Doyle about Trauma Or, Monsters All

Tristes Tropiques

Young assassins are trained in the rainforest and seek bloody revenge, distrusting each other.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2025; Director: Park Hoon-jung; Stars: Park Hae-soo, Lee Sin-young, Kim Myung-min, Lin Po-hung, Chen Yiwen)

Tunnels: Sun In The Dark (Dia Dao: Mat Troi Trong Bong Toi)

Review preview for Tunnels: Sun In The Dark

Like all the best war movies, Tunnels is rooted in the understanding that these young people and first and foremost fighting to stay alive and to protect or avenge their friends.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
In 1967, as the Vietnam War raged, a Vietnamese revolutionary guerrilla team became the US military's top target - charged with safeguarding a secret group of intelligence agents at all costs.

(Country: Vietnam; Year: 2025; Director: Bùi Thac Chuyên; Writer: Bùi Thac Chuyên; Stars: Thai Hoa, Quang Tuan, Thu Anh Ho, Diem Hang Lamoon)

Full review

We're Nothing At All

Inspired by the 1998 Wuhan Bus Blast in China, this film follows three men from different backgrounds whose lives connect after a Valentines’ Day bomb attack.

(Country: Hong Kong; Year: 2026; Director: Herman Yau; Writer: Herman Yau; Stars: Patrick Tam, Anson Kong, Ansonbean, Chu Pak-him, Thor Lok, Kearen Pang)

Wind Breaker

A new arrival in the small town of Makochi, Sakura is determined to take control of Furin High School – known for its formidable fighters – by knocking its leader out with a few well-aimed punches to the face. Instead, he discovers a tight-knit group of young people working to protect their community from the Shishitoren gang, which aims to sow chaos in order to gain more power.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Kentaro Hagiwara; Stars: Koshi Mizukami)

You Are The Film

No details as yet.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Makoto Ueda; Writer: Makoto Ueda; Stars: Riko Fujitani, Takafumi Imai, Kai Inowaki, Gôta Ishida)