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Overlook Film Festival · 2026

Overlook Film Festival 2026

First Wave

Programme

19 films · 9 reviews

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An American Werewolf In London

Review preview for An American Werewolf In London

Landis keeps the humour dry, the speech naturalistic, yet his keen sense of the absurd provides for some laugh-out-loud moments.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Fully restored version of the werewolf classic.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 1981; Director: John Landis; Writer: John Landis; Stars: David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne, John Woodvine, Lila Kaye, Joe Belcher, David Schofield, Brian Glover, Rik Mayall, Sean Baker, Paddy Ryan, Anne-Marie Davies, Frank Oz, Don McKillop, Paul Kember)

Full review

Blackout

Review preview for Blackout

What emerges is thoughtful and deeply humane, whilst retaining that sense of otherness essential to folkloric tales.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A fine arts painter becomes convinced that he is a werewolf, wreaking havoc on a small American town under the full moon.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Larry Fessenden; Writer: Larry Fessenden; Stars: Addison Timlin, Kevin Corrigan, James Le Gros, Barbara Crampton, Marshall Bell, Joe Swanberg, Ella Rae Peck)

Full review See: Interview with Larry Fessenden about Blackout

Boorman And The Devil

Review preview for Boorman And The Devil

Boorman has an extraordinary openness about him which would make him a compelling subject even if he’d never made a film in his life.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
After directing Point Blank and Deliverance, John Boorman was offered to direct The Exorcist II. The film became a massive failure, nearly ending his career. Years later, cast and filmmakers discuss its ambition and artistic value.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: David Kittredge; Writer: David Kittredge; Stars: John Boorman, Louise Fletcher, Karyn Kusama, Mike Flanagan, Joe Dante, Linda Blair, Simon Abrams)

Full review See: Interview with David Kittredge about Boorman And The Devil , Interview with David Kittredge about Boorman And The Devil

Chili Finger

When a woman discovers a severed human finger in her bowl of chili, she recognises an opportunity to seize control of her stagnating life. She blackmails the regionally-beloved fast-food chain for $100,000 in return for her silence.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Edd Benda, Stephen Helstad; Writer: Stephen Helstad; Stars: Judy Greer, Sean Astin, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Madeline Wise, Paul Stanko, Sarah Herrman, Sara Sevigny, Dann Florek, Shaya Harris)

Depraved

Review preview for Depraved

At the centre of the film, Breaux is superb, not only capturing the pathos vital to the monster but carrying him through the long, slow process of cognitive development and emotional realisation without ever striking a false note.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A disillusioned field surgeon suffering from PTSD makes a man out of body parts and brings him to life in a Brooklyn loft.

(Country: US; Year: 2019; Director: Larry Fessenden; Writer: Larry Fessenden; Stars: David Call, Joshua Leonard, Alex Breaux, Ans Kayne)

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)

Exit 8

A man trapped in a endless sterile subway passageway sets out to find Exit 8. The rules of his quest are simple: do not overlook anything out of the ordinary. If you discover an anomaly, turn back immediately. If you don't, carry on. Then leave from Exit 8. But even a single oversight will send him back to the beginning. Will he ever reach his goal and escape this infinite corridor?

(Country: Japan; Year: 2025; Director: Genki Kawamura; Writer: Kotake Create, Genki Kawamura, Hirase Kentaro; Stars: Kazunari Ninomiya, Yamato Kôchi, Naru Asanuma, Kotone Hanase, Nana Komatsu)

Faces Of Death

Review preview for Faces Of Death

It’s rare to find a character this well developed in a slasher film, but Goldhaber pays equal attention to the smaller roles.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A moderator at a social media platform gets thrown face-first into a macabre mystery when she uncovers a series of visceral snuff videos bearing resemblance to a mythical 1978 cult film.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Daniel Goldhaber; Stars: Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Josie Totah, Aaron Holliday, Jermaine Fowler, Charli XCX)

Full review

Goody Goody

Lulled into a necessary sense of comfort during a long home birth process, expecting parents and their midwife begin to realise that something may be horribly wrong. As labor complications ensue, a blizzard rages outside trapping the family in their home.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Raymond Creamer; Stars: Colleen Foy, Samantha Robinson, Zoe Renee)

Habit

An alcoholic New Yorker falls for a mysterious woman with vampiric qualities.

(Country: US; Year: 1995; Director: Larry Fessenden; Stars: Larry Fessenden, Meredith Snaider)

The Holy Boy (La Valle Dei Sorrisi)

Review preview for The Holy Boy

Likely to put a smile on the faces of horror fans who favour the dissection of ideas over dismemberment.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
In Italy's happiest town, a haunted teacher discovers dark secret behind weekly gatherings where locals seek healing from a teenage boy's embrace. His quest to save the youth reveals the sinister nature of a community hiding behind joy.

(Country: Italy, Slovenia; Year: 2025; Director: Paolo Strippoli; Writer: Jacopo Del Giudice, Paolo Strippoli, Milo Tissone; Stars: Michele Riondino, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Giulio Feltri, Roberto Citran, Paolo Pierobon)

Full review See: Paolo Strippoli on his coming-of-age horror The Holy Boy

Leviticus

Two star-crossed teenage boys must escape a violent entity that takes the form of the person they desire most — each other.

(Country: Australia, US; Year: 2026; Director: Adrian Chiarella; Writer: Adrian Chiarella; Stars: Joe Bird, Stacy Clausen, Mia Wasikowska, Jeremy Blewitt, Ewen Leslie, Davida McKenzie)

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

New Group

A high school student sees her world collapse when a strange cult-like mentality gradually turns people around her into mindless followers who can transform simple gymnastics routines into a nightmarish dance of death.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2025; Director: Yûta Shimotsu; Writer: Yûta Shimotsu; Stars: Anna Yamada)

A Page Of Madness (Kurutta Ichipêji)

A man works as an orderly at the asylum where his wife has been imprisoned after attempting to drown herself along with their daughter. When said daughter wants to marry, he tries to hide her mother's illness.

(Country: Japan; Year: 1926; Director: Teinosuke Kinugasa; Writer: Yasunari Kawabata, Teinosuke Kinugasa, Minoru Inuzuka; Stars: Masao Inoue, Yoshie Nakagawa, Ayako Iijima)

Parasomnia

After her friend is the latest to go missing in a series of strange events, a young woman comes to suspect that the demonic figure lurking in her night terrors may have found its way into the real world.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: James Ross; Stars: Jasmine Matthews, RJ Brown, Sally Stewart, Stephen Barrington)

Saccharine

Review preview for Saccharine

The complex interaction of desire and disgust is expressed through the textures of indulgent, luxurious foods juxtaposed with similarly textured body parts in a way that is both sensual and grotesque.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A lovelorn medical student is terrorised by a hungry ghost after taking part in an obscure weight loss craze: eating human ashes.

(Country: Australia, Finland, US; Year: 2026; Director: Natalie Erika James; Writer: Natalie Erika James; Stars: Midori Francis, Danielle Macdonald, Madeleine Madden, Joseph Baldwin, Anna Adams, Annie Shapero, Emily Milledge, Daniela Rene Fink, Andre Ong Carlesso, Conny Fong)

Full review See: Interview with Natalie Erika James about Saccharine

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

Ugly Cry

An actor becomes obsessed with her character after learning that producers think she has an ugly cry.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Emily Robinson; Writer: Emily Robinson; Stars: Emily Robinson, Ryan Simpkins, Aaron Dominguez, Robin Tunney)