Our Picks from Fantasia Film Festival’s 2026

Happy 30th Anniversary to Fantasia Film Festival, the Montreal‑based titan of the genre space. Over the past three decades it has grown from upstart festival to one of the few global events genre fans look to for upcoming trends, talent breakouts, and the next 12 months of must‑see titles. Put simply, Fantasia has become one of three or four genuine tastemakers. The challenge, of course, is whose taste we’re talking about — because for its 2026 edition, over 100 films are programmed, covering the entire globe and everything from the most disgusting body‑horror abomination to the sweetest romantic comedy. For Letterboxd challenge die‑hards, covering the whole slate is doable, but within the festival window (16 July – 2 August 2026), we have to pick our battles.

To help navigate that huge field, we’ve picked 10 movies (in no order) that we think will be of interest to our readers.

If you haven’t seen Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2021) or River (2023) from director Junta Yamaguchi, you really should add them to your catch‑up list — they’re two of the most handsome and charming entries in the time‑loop sub‑genre. At Fantasia 2026, the screenwriter of those films, Makoto Ueda, steps behind the camera for his directorial debut YOU ARE THE FILM. He returns to the time‑loop format, and why not when he’s so good at writing them? This time the twist is separated by three kilometres — a 45‑minute walk. How can Madoka and Kazuma watch, interact with, and guide each other on a cinema screen in real time? Even without the pedigree, it’s a devilishly interesting concept, and the fact it won both the Audience Award and White Raven Award at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival fills us with confidence.

Harrison Atkins may not be a familiar name, but his 2015 movie Lace Crater — about ghostly STDs — shows he has a fascinating imagination. His follow‑up, SOUR MINNOWS, features Chase Williamson from John Dies at the End, a telling reference point as Atkins’ new movie sees two guys witness “six men sensually licking the pavement on an empty LA street”. As time stretches and bends after this encounter, Ricky’s relationships, including his situationship with fellow cinephile Aura, take on surprising new dimensions. Memories morph into lies, reality becomes malleable, and Ricky finds himself at the mercy of “The Yellow Thing,” an entity that wears people like costumes. It may be an incomprehensible mess, or it may be a madcap modern sci‑fi tapping into the satirical mania of Don Coscarelli or Boots Riley — and if it does, consider us fans.

Japanese cinema has long had actors synonymous with its Western releases, and Shota Sometani is one of them. He stars in the promising ANYMART, which blends satire on hyper‑capitalism with horror — a combination primed for relevance. Sometani plays a man working on autopilot in his disillusioned father’s convenience store, constantly dealing with visits from the AnyMart chain’s sales representative. Amidst frustrated customers and colleagues at the end of their tethers, a sassy new employee arrives in this toxic environment, ready to explode. Fantasia has announced writer/director Yusuke Iwasaki as one of Japan’s most promising young filmmakers. Count us in.

Next is the sequel to a movie I loved, but had no idea a follow up was in production so this is a very nice surprise. The 2018 movie Freaks by directors Zach Lipovsky & Adam Stein approached an X-men like reality with a stoic and often brutal pragmatism, where it felt like the single most effective antidote to super hero fatigue. In the meantime, the pair helmed the very successful franchise nightmare that was Final Destination Bloodlines, and now they return to their supernatural superhero roots with FREAKS PART II. In which things pick up several years after a traumatic escape, we meet Mary and her daughter Chloe as they live on the road, hiding their powers and identities. They are hunted by the Abnormal Defense Force, paramilitary police that specialize in ruthlessly exterminating “freaks” like them. Mary is fueled by revenge, determined to find the ADF officer who killed her first child. Everything about it sounds like they are upping the ante and keeping it deeply within the realms of being counter to the superhero standards we know from the likes of DC and Marvel. 

For this next one, all you needed to say was Kiyoshi Kurosawa Samurai Movie – really, I am that easy. Samurai Movies and one of my favourite directors, little easy really needs to be said for THE SAMURAI AND THE PRISONER. Arioka Castle proves resilient against siege from outside, but within its walls, a succession of baffling events threatens the resolve of its defenders. Four impossible occurrences, one for each season. Signs of divine intervention – or perhaps a very human conspiracy? To unravel these puzzles, Lord Murashige must enter into a contest of wits with a man he’s chained in his own dungeon, the brilliant strategist Kanbei Kuroda. Adapted from an award winning novel by Honobu Yonezawa, it sees Kurosawa engage his more sedate and contemplative stylings away from his unique grasp on the nightmarish, rather here we see him do a first a Japanese period mystery wrapped up with his career long fascination for mind games. It’s always fascinating to see a favourite tackle something new, and given his history I’m sure he’ll make it look easy.    

One of this year’s Fantasia trends is workplace and capitalist satire pushed to horrific ends, and SLEEP NO MORE looks like one of the strongest. Sisters Putri and Ida visit the wig factory where their debt‑ridden mother apparently took her own life mid‑shift, hoping to understand what happened. They meet the boss, Mrs. Maryati, who oversees a tight‑knit community of employees. Horrific workplace accidents caused by overwork are rising, and the two women conclude the factory is haunted by a demon. With the writer of Arrow Video’s Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash involved, and Fantasia describing the film as having an oppressive, blood‑soaked atmosphere invoking The Thing, it’s clear things escalate wildly. Coming from Indonesia — one of Southeast Asia’s most exploited regions, with a growing horror tradition — only ups its potential.

Next we head to America for the hardest‑working family in horror, the Adams Family (Mother of Flies, Where the Devil Roams, Hellbender) and their latest, THE GLORIOUS DEAD. A small‑town sheriff (Toby Poser) and her young deputy (Zelda Adams) wake to find their world no longer exists. Blood drips from faucets, people and pets vanish, and fleshy creatures walk the woods. Soon, the dirt can’t keep the dead down. Anger and fear spread through the community. Being both the nicest and hardest‑working family in the genre — and keeping things firmly DIY — makes it hard not to be invested in whatever they create. Mixing their personal filmmaking style with earthy horror, poetry, and super‑dark humour as commentary on modern American life, The Glorious Dead has us hooked. Fantasia only needed to say “World Premiere of the new Adams Family movie” and we’d be there.

From Finland comes Hanna Bergholm’s NIGHTBORN, starring Rupert Grint and Seidi Haarla. A couple move to the isolated house where she spent her childhood, deep in the Finnish forest. After their baby is born, she knows something is terribly wrong. Their marriage cracks as he struggles to support her, but only she suspects the truth about their newborn. With Bergholm at the helm, the film should avoid the gaslighting tropes similar stories have suffered, and given Haarla’s pedigree (Hatching 2022), Nightborn promises a viscerally gruesome, darkly humorous look at parenthood.

ROB’S ARCHIVE – LOOKING FORWARD TO FANTASIA FILM 2026