Fantasia 2026: Raising the Curtain on the 30th Edition of Montreal's Smorgasbord of Genre Cinema

Her Private Hell

Opening Fantasia is the latest work from Danish wunderkind Nicolas Winding Refn. Her Private Hell combines science fiction and horror elements into one of his signature hypnotic neon-infused dreamscapes. The film is guided by an original score from legendary Pino Donaggio, the haunting maestro from Nic Roeg's Don't Look Now and Brian DePalma's Blow Out.

Set in a future-noir urban landscape and featuring a leather clad Giallo-esque serial killer, this will be nothing, if not a supremely stylish experience, one to be experienced with the opening night crowd.

Director Nicolas Winding Refn is also receiving the 2026 Cheval Noir Career Achievement award, and will also be on hand to deliver a MasterClass before the screening of the film. If you are a longtime fan of the director's work, from Bleeder, The Pusher Trilogy, Valhalla Rising, Bronson, Drive, Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon, then this is the festival to drink your fill. -- Kurt Halfyard

Hot Spot

After bringing down the roof of the Hall Auditorium in 2015 (and having one of the absolute best pre-film director "Sorry I cannot be there" intro videos I have ever seen) with The Lure, Agnieszka Smoczynska returns with a stylish high-production value post-apocalyptic feature under the prestigious Focus Features imprint, starring Noomi Rapace and Andrzej Konopka. This film oozes retro-future 70s and 80s style.

In the late 21st century, an investigator and a member of a feared religious sect are brought together by a murder in a refugee camp. The trailer is one of the best of the year, and we simply cannot wait for this. -- Kurt Halfyard

Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma

After her auspicious, esoteric, debut of We're All Going to the World's Fair and her instant-classic I Saw The TV Glow, Jane Schoenbrun returns to Fantasia with a meta-slasher, Teenage Sex And Death At Camp Miasma, with a young cast of would-be final girls, along with fan favourites Gillian Anderson, Dylan Baker, Kevin MacDonald, and Patrick Fischler. (Shout-out to those of you in the Patrick Fischler Appreciation Society, if you know you know.)

Blood, lust, and sexual-psychological chaos will likely ensue against the dreamy purple, teal and white cinematography.

To further the celebration of Shoenbrun, there is an "In Conversation" event with the director and the Camp Miasama stars, Hannah Einbinder and Louise Weard, along with special guest filmmakers Avalon Fast (Honeycomb, Camp) and Alice Maio Mackay, who has the alien-invasion-cum-hanging-out flick Our Effed Up World playing at the festival. -- Kurt Halfyard

The Fox

Every year there are a handful of festival favorites that make their Canadian debuts at Fantasia, and one of that crowd at this year's fest is one of my SXSW faves, The Fox. The feature directing debut of Danger 5 co-creator, Dario Russo, this film follows an utterly hilarious Jai Courtney as a simple man who finds himself at the mercy of a talking fox who is much smarter and more cunning than he. With a ton of incredible performances from Courtney, Emily Browning, Claudia Doumit, Damon Herriman, and the voice talents of Academy Award winner Olivia Colman and the late, great Sam Neill, The Fox is -- as my review stated back in March -- "weird as fuck", and I love it. -- J Hurtado

The Glorious Dead

We posed this question when this movie was announced in one of the waves: 'Is it a proper Fantasia film festival if the Adams Family have not submitted a movie that year?' The relationship between indie horror's favourite family of filmmakers/creatives and the festival has been going on for, what, half a dozen consecutive years now? The festival has become the sole launchpad for their annual offerings.

In this new film, an American rural town sheriff and their deputy struggle to make sense of multiple disappearances, strange creatures in the surrounding woods, faucets that bleed, and a hint at the arrival of the undead as well. The American way of life is under attack and they do not know if it is from beyond or within their little town.

The premiere of an Adams Family horror movie is always an occasion to look forward to. Still, is anyone else afraid of what might happen to our collective reality if they stopped coming to Fantasia each year? Like, will we be wandering around the campus, panic in our eyes, like Ian Abercrombie in AoD, muttering, "Something's wrong! Something's amiss!"? Best not to dwell on such self-inflicted doubt and celebrate another year of family-made DIY indie horror. -- Andrew Mack

Colony

This is a no brainer.

Yeon Sang-ho achieved god-like status with their international breakout hit, the zombie flick Train to Busan. Yeon gave us a story with non-stop action and thrills, inventive zombie set pieces, and a bawl-your-eyes-out worthy climax. It tugged at our heart strings while ripping them from our chests. Yet, other than a brief stop on the Peninsula, he did not venture far into the genre that gave him international fame.

Ten years later, they are back, and so are the hordes of fast-moving zombies that audiences found so exhilarating with Train to Busan. Again it is not just about the volume, this new hoard in Colony has either a hive-mind or mimics the behaviours of those pesky people with a pulse. Yeon manages to bring a little something different from the 'Rawr Brains Chomp’ we have become accustomed to. And we are almost certain that he will have found a way to make us connect emotionally with his cast of characters. Who’d ever think you need to bring tissues to a zombie flick!?!? -- Andrew Mack

Break Free

A Yakuza comedy about a gangster who goes viral dancing on TikTok? This is the kind of thing that brings me back to Fantasia year after year. I'm trying to go into this one without much more information, but the premise is really all I need here. -- J Hurtado

Insectasy

There is something tactile and erotic (well, to an audience of a certain disposition) about spiders walking on bare skin. Angus Silver's perfect portmanteau title is both a homage to the 1970s erotic thrillers, but also a modern exercise in ASMR.

At a tight 83 minutes, nestled away in the transgressive UNDERGROUND sidebar of the festival, this one promises to be, from programmer Justine Smith, "for the lonely perverts who’ve always wanted to be annihilated by the weight of their desire." -- Kurt Halfyard

Village of Eight Gravestones (YatsuhakaMura)

It is good to be busy. Writer/director Takashi Shimizu has been so hard at work that he has three films coming out in 2026, two of which are at Fantasia this Summer.

We say, if you are going to be honoured at the festival with the Chevel Noir Career Achievement Award, come bearing gifts, and oh boy has Shimizu done just that.

We got the World Premiere of this mystery horror thriller, Village of Eight Gravestones, that follows a young man with a dark family past who visits the village of his late mother, where he encounters a private eye hired by hostile villagers as a killing spree unfolds. The new movie is based on a novel by the same title, featuring the popular detective character, Kosuke Kindaichi, created by Seishi Yokomizo. The character appeared in 77 novels over 34 years.

The mystery combines family secrets, superstition, and a supposed curse, leading to shocking revelations. Fantasia promises “a bloody and unpredictable folk-horror feature film combining elements of the detective genre, slasher films, J-horror fuelled by curses”.

We cannot wait. -- Andrew Mack

Permanent Damage

The wonderful and strange filmography of Seth A. Smith (Lowlife, The Crescent, Tin Can) has a long history at Fantasia, with his debut feature drawing (and baffling) a crowd in the J. A. De Sève cinema back in 2012.

He returns with Permanent Damage, featuring cult favourites Steven Dorff and Steven McHattie, in a prison-escape heist caper and housing-crisis poverty drama blended into one. Given Smith's predilection for character's mental stability under extreme pressure-laden conditions, we are deeply curious to see him working in a less fantastical scenario than his previous work. -- Kurt Halfyard

You Are the Film

The time-loop movie has become its own prolific subgenre since its popularization with Harold Ramis' 1993 classic Groundhog Day. The ways this simple concept can warp and weave and find new stories to tell is both flexible and amazing.

Fantasia is no stranger to showcasing these films. In the past few years, Junta Yamaguchi's Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and River have been exceptional and novel examples. The writer of those two charming, chaotic, and slyly intelligent films, Makoto Ueda, makes his directorial debut at Fantasia, with You Are the Film.

Scriptwriter Madoka and musician Kazuma probably never imagined that a simple, relaxing film-watching would unfold like this: they can watch each other’s experience in real time. They ARE the film -- for each other!

Not only can they see what the other is going through, they can even interact, guide, and correct each other in the moment. Separated by three kilometres, a 45-minute walk, how could something like this happen? And how is it even possible? In a very compact 67 minutes, audiences will find out. -- Kurt Halfyard

Tight Lettuce

Based on a true story, told by a friend and their father, the Quebecois dark comedy is Harrison Houde's feature film debut.

It's a dark comedy about Joel's steadfast love for his father, Bodo, who is battling an addiction to heroin and fentanyl. Despite Bodo's denial and the chaos his addiction brings, Joel documents his father's struggle, hoping to inspire change. As their bond deepens, Joel can choose to confront his father or cherish the time they have left together.

This is exactly the kind of quieter counter-programming that Fantasia sneaks in the side door of the fesival, such as the work of Joel Potrykus, or Felix van Groeningen's The Broken Circle Breakdown, Jeon Go-Woon's Microhabitat or Satoshi Miki's Adrift In Tokyo.

Worth taking the chance. -- Kurt Halfyard

Ancestral Beasts

An alum of the Frontieres Platform at Cannes, director Tim Reidel's debut feature examines generational trauma and the ways in which it disrupts modern life. Showcasing a majority indigenous cast and written in close collaboration with First Nations elders and advisors, Ancestral Beasts represents Fantasia's ongoing and staunch support for underrepresented voices in cinema. Following in the footsteps of fellow Frontieres indigenous-focused projects like Polaris and Slashback, this one is a film to watch out for! -- J Hurtado

Nameless

Security-camera footage has captured evidence of a vicious murder at a café, but the police are baffled that the suspect can slash people to death without even holding a weapon. During their investigation, they manage to locate his home address, and the rotting, bloody corpse of a woman at his residence. Who is this man?

Hideo Jojo's psychological thriller and supernatural procedural showcases an oblique central performance from Jiro Sato. -- Kurt Halfyard

The Testament of the Mexican Mummy

A performative lecture that traces a media archeology of mummy horror cinema made in Mexico from Morbido programmer, film archivist, editor, and host of the macabre, Abraham Castillo Flores.

After touring around the world in Spanish-language performances, the one-man show will make its debut in English at Fantasia. Castillo Flores has been a regular fixture at Fantasia over the years, and brings his own kind of charming and positive energy as a guide through the folklore in which history, imagination, mythology, tragedy and uncanny reality of the Mummy overlap. - Kurt Halfyard

NightBorn

Finnish film director and screenwriter Hanna Bergholm returns after Hatching with the parenting fever-dream, Nightborn in the neighbourhood of both Lynne Ramsay's Die My Love, and Paul Solet's Grace.

A young couple moves from the U.K. to Finland and takes residence in the semi-dilapidated house where Saga largely grew up, deep in the forest. What could possibly go wrong?

The baby, conceived on the premises, soon arrives with an unsettling wail and uncommonly hairy back. Never sleeping, refusing to eat, biting, breaking things, and generally tormenting all who engage.

As their marriage starts to crack from the pressures of a baby and the isolation of the home, a dark folklore-laden fable about parenthood and unconditional love unfolds. -- Kurt Halfyard

Sleep No More

Indonesian director Edwin (Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash) is back with an unsettling allegory for the plight of the working class in the spectacularly gory Sleep No More. A mysterious violent death in a factory leads to a curious family who discovers that the overworked employees have more to fear than a toxic workplace, all of their lives are on the line. I loved Vengeance is Mine, so I'm completely on board to see what Edwin has to offer next. -- J Hurtado

Tristes Tropiques (Seulpeun-Yeoldae)

Of the many things that South Korea does VERY well, one of them is hyper-active and hyper-stylized/choreographed action thrillers. So, when word that one of their contemporary masters of the genre, Park Hoon-jung (The Witch: Part 1: Subversion), is back with another entry, our ears perk and the hairs on the back of our necks rise up.

And word is that they have upped the ante this time around, making the story about not just one highly-trained-to-kill former child assassin, but a whole smack of them. A whole smack of them, dishing out brutal, bloody revenge? Is this what Heaven feels like? It feels like Heaven to us. -- Andrew Mack

The Mouths (Kuchi Ni Kansuru Enquete)

A group of university students and friends are unwilling to let a local urban legend get the best of them. Until it does. Woe is them as one of their own disappears and they are left to face the ghostly apparitions of a woman. Ah, the folly of youth.

Japanese horror master Takashi Shimizu is back with a handful of new films at this year's festival. They are, of course, the creator of the Ju-on franchise of films, which is one of only a couple of franchises whose first entry made us sleep with the lights on after watching it. We will admit it, the first Ju-on film left a mark.

Fantasia's writeup for The Mouths promises a film that, "relies more on genuinely unsettling supernatural apparitions than on excessive jump scares". We have yet to decide if that is a good or a bad thing. Sleeping with the lights on after watching a scary movie is not the only indicator that a horror movie did its job. But for reaching that high mark, Shimizu will always have our respect, and it is why any horror film made by him is a must watch in our books. -- Andrew Mack

Bagworm

Oliver Bernsen's rare male-focused body-horror film is both cringingly difficult to watch for its ugly subject matter, and gorgeously shot on 16mm film. The downfall and karmic torture of an angry and terminally online dude-bro, who rots onscreen from bad choices and poor care of his home, may sound cathartic, but it is also tragically funny and sad.

Peter Falls is very game as the thoroughly unlikeable leading man named Carroll. He gets sweatier, facially bloated, and his eyes develop a red bloodshot colour, while his damp, matted hairline seems to retreat in real time. Unrelenting to the bitter end, with Vegas as a stand-in for the hellish titular pupa that Carroll finds himself transforming into.

His blossoming infections are often shot through a Snorricam, a strap-on camera rig that keeps focus on the actor's upper body while the background queasily moves around them. Some might recall it from Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream, a film that is kissing cousin to Bagworm.

Also watch for a resonating and effective "Director's Dad" cameo from character-actor extraordinaire, Corbin Bernsen. -- Kurt Halfyard

Bowels of Hell

Great. Just what Fantasia needed. Another shitty movie.

A very small sub-genre of its own (thank the gods), Fantasia has been no stranger to abode-centric flicks over the years (Flush, Scared Shitless, Glorious, and Shakespeare's Shitstorm) so it is no surprise that Brazilian filmmakers Gurcius Gewdner and Gustavo Vinagre are looking to 'drop their kids off at the pool' as well.

A mom in São Paolo would rather focus on her career in event planning than her sole remaining child. Hired to host a gender reveal party for her influencer client (we already hate you, client) she would prefer to hold it in rather than use the facilities in their apartment complex. She may not have a choice, as something supernatural is set on ruining everyone’s good times and, by the sounds of it, our dinners. We don’t think you should eat before heading into this screening. -- Andrew Mack

I Love Paris

Nicky Murphy and Aminata Thiboult’s blend of vampire lore, the Paris music/night scene and comedy comes together in their mockumentary, I Love Paris. In a case of, “if you want something done right, do it yourself, Murphy and Thiboult chip in as everything from the director, the writers, the star, the cinematographer, the sound designer, the composer, the editor and the special effects.

By necessity or desire, that is a lot.

You say the words ‘mockumentary’ and ‘vampires’ in the same sentence and you immediately think of the gold standard, What We Do In The Shadows. And while we are told it is fine to expect that (with a dash of Tony Scott’s The Hunger added in, FOR THE VAMPIRES!!!), the festival also speaks highly of Murphy and Thiboult’s portrayal of Paris at night, its music scene and the “effortless French cool” while describing Thiboult as an “explosive talent”.

We are definitely game for all of that along with some good laughs. -- Andrew Mack

Corpus

When Sayo's crush Vince returns to town, he is at risk of being swept up by the emotions he once felt for them. Vince invites Sayo and their friend Ross to a party held by a famous photographer, Billie. Billie appears to be in their own queer relationship with the older Cata while a younger Wren hangs on in the peripheral. As the party goes on into the late night sexual desires burn and tension rises throughout this appropriately labelled sextet.

Corrin Evans, a longtime intimacy coordinator for shows and movies like American Horror Stories and MaXXXine, makes their feature film directorial debut with a story that will linger in your mind long after you have watched it. Queer at its core but universally sensual, watch as Evans portrays their character's desires, longings and frustrations. Watch as these romances and flirtations burn through the scenery towards a shocking and sinister conclusion -- truly something we did not see coming. -- Andrew Mack

Penny Lane is Dead

Mia'Kate Russell's debut feature about a young woman whose college acceptance girls' trip goes pear-shaped sounds exactly like the kind of fucked-up Australian survival horror I'm into. Let's get toxic! -- J Hurtado

Never After Dark

One of my favorite films of SXSW this year is coming to Montreal. Dave Boyle's (House of Ninjas) Never After Dark is a film that must be experienced on the big screen. A surprise-filled technically dazzling terrifying ghost story you won't want to miss! -- J Hurtado

Captured! (Tore!)

High-school senior Misaki starts a vlog that accidentally captures a mysterious silhouette. Her friend Satsuki convinces her to exploit this viral success by filming fake horror videos inside an abandoned, haunted building. Following their exploration, a silent, masked entity begins to haunt Misaki, visible only to her. A medium later reveals that Misaki's stalker is actually a protective deity, while Satsuki has become the target of a dangerous malevolent spirit.

As the lines between traditional filmmaking training and education, and building experience and an online following, blur, the next voices in horror cinema will be found virtually anywhere. We got the Philippou brothers, Danny and Michael Philippou, out of Australia, with Talk To Me and Bring Her Back. Then we recently had a rocking start to Summer with Kane Parsons (Backrooms) and Curry Barker (Obsession) out of the States. And over in Japan Youtuber Koichi has made their debut feature film (?) Captured!.

Viewers are promised a horror thriller that will blend horror, comedy, and coming-of-age tale. Koichi’s first movie stars Runa Nakashima and horror veteran Megumi Okina from the original Ju-on movie. And if you have the clout to get Jhorror royalty in your movie, then you are doing something right. -- Andrew Mack

Home Bodies

Give me all of your dystopian, claustrophobic science fiction. Fantasia alum Casey Walker brings Home Bodies to the festival, a story of twins Red and Blue who live in an automated home living a very sterile life. When a robot companion appears as a gift, their routine is upended and I can't wait to see what happens next! -- J Hurtado

Unholy Night

Who doesn't love Christmas in July? Fantasia is often home to future holiday classics including films like The Sacrifice Game and Carnage for Christmas, so why not join the festivities with this year's yuletide offering, Unholy Night! The debut feature from Michael Gabriele, this one looks like a lot of fun and I'm ho-ho-here for it! -- J Hurtado

The Last Footage

It speaks to the global appeal of horror and genre cinema that it keeps finding its way into a variety of cultures and belief systems around the world. We will admit also that we are suckers for watching someone doing something -- that we are familiar with -- for the first time in their home country. In this case, we are talking about the first-ever found-footage movie made in the troubled country of Myanmar. The reality that any kind of movie is being made in a conflict-ridden country currently under the heel of a junta is story-worthy alone!

Found-footage films are a dime a dozen. But, when someone does it for the first time in their country's cinematic history, we are game to take a look at what they have done. What did director Arkar Soe Oo take away from all that this sub-genre has produced before? What did they reuse or recycle, or, what new angle did they bring? What is culturally specific to their story, and what is universal? How did the junta shape this story and production? We have so many questions!

We have seen other first-time-for-their-region found-footage horror flicks this year that failed to make an impression. We should also mention that The Last Footage is also shot entirely in first-person POV. The early days of first-person POV found-footage movies, shot on smart glasses, were… rough. What have technological advancements done to improve that? That’s a lot of questions heading into the World Premiere. We are hopeful that this first found-footage horror film from Myanmar beats the odds -- Andrew Mack

The Repertory Programming and Director Talks This Year Are Exceptionally Wide Raging

First rule of Fantasia: Always seek out the retro screenings, restorations, and post-screening chats with established filmmakers at Fantasia.

Pontypool

One of the true modern classics of Canadian independent cinema is Bruce McDonald and Tony Burgess's book turned radio play turned intellectual zombie film, featuring a pitch-perfect Steven McHattie starring alongside his real life wife, Lisa Houle. A small town talk-radio host has to navigate an infectious disease that spreads through the English language, while trying to figure out, from a church basement no less, if it is all just a hoax.

Bruce McDonald is also on hand for a chat on his prolific career spanning film, radio, television series, documentaries, and music videos. He might even mention Pontypool 2: Pontypool Changes.

An Evening With Don Hertzfeldt

The cult filmmaker -- a viral-gif-meme sensation -- and animator Don Hertzfeldt on the eve of his 50th birthday, appears in person at Fantasia for a retrospective of his work.

From Rejected to It's Such A Beautiful Day to The World of Tomorrow trilogy, Hertzfeldt's surreal and boundary pushing 'stick animations' have found their way into the hearts of several generations from GenX through the Millennials, GenZ and one would hope, GenAlpha.

The Canadian premiere of his brand-new film Paper Trail will play, and perhaps, if we are lucky, we might get to see his The Simpsons bonkers Couch Gag opener from the 2014 season.

Possible Worlds (35mm) and Robert LePage Masterclass

Quebec cinematic icon, playwright and theatre-director, Robert Lapage, who normally breathes the rarefied air of the Canadian high-art scene, made a multiverse-style surreal science fiction picture back in 2000 with Tom McCamus (star of Canadian cult classics I Love A Man In Uniform and The Sweet Hereafter and the inestimable Tilda Swinton. It won a lot of awards at the time, but has since faded into obscurity. This is wonderful opportunity to see this on a 35mm print from the archives. (I wonder if this is the same 35mm print that I saw (and fell instantly in love with) from the balcony of the Elgin Theatre in Toronto at TIFF in 2000.)

A mathematician continuously meets a woman at a bar. Sometimes, she is a scientist, sometimes she is a stockbroker, she might possibly be a serial killer. She also does not seem to remember him from one moment to next. The mathematician also has a dream about strange men who move stones here and there on a rocky waterfront. It is an ethereal, cerebral film that leans heavily on the chemistry of its two wonderful actors, metaphorical Fibonacci rhythms, and exceptional cinematography.

Robert Lepage will be conducting a masterclass lecture the same day, not long after the screening.

Studio Q (aka Misterio)

The boutique restoration and physical media house, Severin, is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year, and it has outdone itself with this 1979 meta-narrative gem set in the realm of Mexican telenovelas, where a TV star finds his reality increasingly blurred with the plot of the soap opera he is making.

Produced in Mexico in the midst of a film production drought due to capricious government control of the industry at a moment telenovelas most thrived, Misterio was directed by Marcela Fernández Violante, a rare female voice in the industry at the time.

Cul-de-$ac

A piece of Quebec cult movie history, this is the first feature film produced by Jean-Mathieu Bérubé and Carlo Harrietha, who began working in 2015 under the name Blood Brothers FX, a Quebec-based team specializing in practical effects.

Cul-de-$ac is a veritable deluge of stunts and special effects wrapped up in a martial arts-horror farce. It is a tour de force that required six years of filming, 127 volunteers, and a budget of approximately $30,000.

The Blood Brothers will also be celebrating their 10th Anniversary at Fantasia with a MasterClass.

Hong Kong Godfather

One of the cardinal rules of Fantasia is to never miss King Wei's retro screening of classic Hong Kong and Shaw Brothers kung fu and violence presented on 35mm prints.

This year it is Lung-Wei Wang's 1985 Hong Kong Godfather, an emotion-charged triad/gangster picture which, according to Peter Taggart, offers "bloody thrills with a cast and crew honed on kung fu movies smashing their way into the gangster arena."

Lung-Wei Wang was the prolific star of many classic kung fu pictures (many with numbers in the title) including Five Fingers Of Death, The First Time is the Last Time, The Five Venoms, 8 Diagram Pole Fighter, Return to the 36th Chamber, The Seventh Curse, and Project A: Part II. -- Kurt Halfyard