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Festival coverage

Fantastic Fest

17 September – 24 September 2026

This year's Fantastic Fest returns to the Alamo Drafthouse in South Lamar, Austin, Texas, with a special focus on new discoveries which means that even if you've been following this year's genre festivals closely, you can look forward to something different. It opens with twisty Amazonian forest thriller Beware Boiuna and closes with survival horror The Swallow.

With contributions from around the world, this year's festival is particularly strong on Eastern European films, with a strong artistic focus. It still finds room for crowd-pleasing horror comedies, however, and even for puppets. There's also a fabulous gues line-up, giving fans the chance to mingle with some of the sharpest creative talents in the industry.

The festival runs from 17 to 24 September.

View complete schedule

Other years (5)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • The Spiral
    Review preview for The Spiral

    Up until the end laced with cheap pseudo-biblical references, this horror-drama serves as a fun and thrilling ride.

    Marko Stojiljkovic · 3 out of 5
    A woman unexpectedly shows up at her daughter’s home to reveal the truth about their family.
  • Posthumous
    Review preview for Posthumous

    The film is slow and its horror elements become less effective as more of the mystery is resolved, but the characters and the damage they carry feel real.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    A young woman returns home to her estranged father, seeking comfort from a series of VHS birthday recordings left behind by her deceased mother, and uncovers an occult ritual that upends everything she was told about her mother's death.
  • Little Doors
    Review preview for Little Doors

    Answers are as thin on the ground as they are beside the point.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    Two socially awkward people find love and then define it for themselves in a barren, post-apocalyptic world before they discover a small, wooden door in the side of her body and decide whether or not to open it.
  • Compliance
    Review preview for Compliance

    Mangione-Smith...is particularly successful at telling the story dynamically without compromising the found footage approach.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    A found footage horror film about the modern surveillance state, dark web crime, and political conspiracy.
  • Sick
    Review preview for Sick

    Whilst it’s thematically concerned with the blurring of boundaries, its own shifting structure and blending of genres contributes to the underlying unease.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Things spiral out of control in more ways than one when two siblings are tasked with caring for their ailing grandma.
  • Gimme Truth
    Review preview for Gimme Truth

    Does a good job of carrying the general viewer from laughter to sympathy and concern – maintaining a healthy awareness of how ludicrous many of these ideas are, yet reminding us of the vulnerability of many believers.

    Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
    Delve deep into the world of conspiracy theories in North America in this documentary.
  • The Heretiks
    Review preview for The Heretiks

    Overall the film is finished to a very high standard.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A disaffected teenage girl must team up with a renegade witch to protect her little sister from a murderous coven determined to use her as a human sacrifice in an apocalyptic ritual on Halloween night.
  • Adult Supervision
    Review preview for Adult Supervision

    There’s an astute understanding of trauma underlying the comedy here, and it informs every aspect of the larger narrative.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    When three fathers volunteer to chaperone their teenage daughters’ school trip, the initially idyllic getaway quickly reveals brutal social dynamics that have them in over their heads.
  • Girl In The Night
    Review preview for Girl In The Night

    Meticulously styled, Girl in The Night uses a blend of absurdity and deadpan humour to charm and delight its audience.

    Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
    A lonesome guy desperate for human connection decides to steal the bicycle of the town’s self-appointed vigilante; as the 'sole witness' of the crime, he is inducted into joining her nightly escapades.
  • I Have Proof
    Review preview for I Have Proof

    I Have Proof asks how we can navigate in a world in which less and less of what we are surrounded with can be considered reliable.

    Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
    Alex has proof, and he wants you to see it.

A–Z of Fantastic Fest 2026 reviews

Features

  • Flying blind
    Michael Woloson and Scott Tinkham on improvisation, experimental writing and Littermates
  • The believers
    Simon Ennis and Brad Abrahams on conspiracy theories and Gimme Truth
  • The serpent's call
    Composer Stephen Lukach on creating tension and awe in Beware Boiúna
  • The aftermath
    Jorge Thielen Armand on returning to Venezuela to make Death Has No Master
  • Making magic
    Gregg Bishop on witches, inspiring actors, instinctive filmmaking and The Heretiks
  • Close to home
    Ari Millen, Cody Calahan, Chad Archibald and Jeff Maher on Death Of A Yellow Bird
  • She's out of sight
    Luka Marcetic, Lara Wolf and Urban Kuntaric on Girl In The Night
  • The first time and the last
    Agata Trzebuchowska on keeping it fresh when making her feature début with Sick
  • The yearning
    Corrin Evans, Lily Cowles, Jeff Wahlberg and Michael Vlamis on Corpus
  • Levelling up
    Saïd Boumazoughe and Bob Colaers on Attack On Paradise