By George & Josh Bate
Quentin Tarantino called Fantasia “the most important and prestigious genre film festival on this continent.” Guillermo Del Toro referred to the festival as a “shrine.” This summer, the festival lauded by some of the biggest names in the film industry with celebrate its 30th edition in resounding fashion.
Held in Montreal each year, Fantasia International Film Festival celebrates the various realms of genre cinema by presenting a host of films ranging from challenging indie flicks to mainstream motion picture events.
Beginning on July 16, Fantasia’s 30th edition will open with the Canadian premiere of Nicholas Winding Refn’s highly anticipate return to feature filmmaking, Her Private Hell.
The festival will also celebrate Takashi Shimzu, a legend of J-horror, who brings with him two new movies: the supernatural thriller The Mouths and the folk horror film Village of Eight Gravestones.
The honor of being the closing night film on August 2 goes to Freaks Part II, the sequel to the 2018 sleeper-hit. After the immense success of Final Destination: Bloodlines, directors Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein return to their roots in this subversive superhero thriller.
Out of the over 100 films screening at Fantasia this year, we’ve pinpointed 10 that are our most highly anticipated…..
Nightborn
Director: Hanna Bergholm
Cast: Rupert Grint, Seidi Haarla
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: After much planning and anticipation. Saga (Seidi Haarla, COMPARTMENT NO. 6, ICEBREAKER) and her British husband Jon (Rupert Grint, the HARRY POTTER series, SERVANT) are starting a family. They move from the U.K. to Finland and take residence in the semi-dilapidated house where Saga largely grew up, deep in the forest. Soon, overtaken by energies in the woods, they make passionate love surrounded by an ocean of trees and foliage, and perhaps other things as well. Saga becomes pregnant. When the baby is born, it arrives with an unsettling wail and uncommonly hairy back. It behaves… badly. Never sleeping, refusing to eat, biting, breaking things, and generally tormenting all who engage. Everyone’s response is to blame Saga, accusing her of somehow being a terrible parent with an uncontrollable monster of a baby. A baby who’s becoming increasingly troll-like in appearance. Whose hunger only seems to be satisfied by raw meat or animal blood. Her marriage to Jon begins to crumble as Saga descends ever deeper into a tornado hole of maternal anguish, earthy mud, and milky blood. Have they created an actual monster together?
Showings: Wednesday July 22, 2026 at 9:30pm
The Mouths
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Cast: Rihito Itagaki, Keito Tsuna, Ai Yoshikawa, MOMONA, Shido Nakamura
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Synopsis: There’s a rumour going round about a cursed tree standing in the middle of a supposedly haunted cemetery, deep in the forest. For Shota and his university friends, it’s a chance to tempt fate and give themselves a proper scare by visiting this legendary spot in the dead of night. Once there, their courage immediately falters at the gloomy sight of the place. There is also the abnormally deafening sound of cicadas, which adds to the eerie aspect of the site. Things quickly spiral out of control for the four of them, as one of them, Ann, starts babbling strange words and behaving completely irrationally. They even have to drag her back to the car by force to get back to campus as quickly as possible. The next day, she disappears, and the others are plagued by terrifying visions of a ghostly female figure. Thus begins a waking nightmare in which they will come to regret their reckless expedition. Carelessness can come at a very high price, and the cost will exceed all their expectations.
Showings: Sunday July 26, 2026 at 6:35pm
Los Vampires
Director: Craig Mitchell
Cast: Daniela Couso, Henry Ian Cusick, Thomas Kretschmann, Jefferson Mays, Oscar Nuñez, Carol Abney
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, Experimental
Synopsis: In the dead of night, in 1930 Hollywood, a migrant film crew work on the Spanish version of what will become one of the biggest blockbusters of its year—a certain vampire film, starring a beloved Hungarian screen idol. As dubbing technology had not yet come into being, an occasional practice had been devised of simultaneously shooting an alternate language version of major productions on the same sets from dusk until dawn, the actors being forced to emulate the work of what was being done by the stars of the English day shoots. Celebrated Spanish actor Luis de Ossario (Henry Ian Cusick, LOST, MACGYVER) has been cast to play the Count. He comes with decades of instinct and experience from stage and screen, but is unable to draw upon his talents, forced instead to mimic every aspect of what the English version’s star, Kürt Orlov (Thomas Kretschmann, THE PIANIST, SPECTRE) is doing with the role. The two actors regularly meet at the transitory hours of their shoots, and a rivalry begins to stir between them. All the while, a string of murders are occurring on and around the soundstage…
Showings: Tuesday July 21, 2026 at 9:15pm
Her Private Hell
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Charles Melton, Havana Rose Liu, Kristine Forsyth, Diego Calva
Genre: Horror, Drama, Thriller, Science-Fiction
Synopsis: Set in a fog-basked futuristic city that curves, arches, juts, and glows like pathways into the subconscious, HER PRIVATE HELL opens in a towering, empty hotel. We meet Elle (Sophie Thatcher, YELLOWJACKETS, COMPANION), the daughter of decadently successful filmmaker Johnny Thunders (Dougray Scott, MY OXFORD YEAR, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 2), who sees in her the elements of himself that he most loathes. Elle’s relationship with her once-lover-now-stepmother Dominique (Havana Rose Liu, LURKER, BOTTOMS) is… difficult. Into this circle enters ingenue actor Hunter (Kristine Froseth, SHARP STICK, THE BUCCANEERS), who’s elated to be working with everyone and welcomes any pain that may come. And pain is indeed coming. The mist that permeates this city is known to bring out a ghostly serial killer with flesh-cutting, diamond-studded gloves. Also coming out of the fog is an American GI, Private K. (Charles Melton, MAY DECEMBER, RIVERDALE), who appears to exist in a realm decades past, on a violent mission to find his disappeared daughter… whom he suspects may be in hell.
Showings: Thursday July 16, 2026 at 6:30pm
The Fox
Director: Dario Russo
Cast: Emily Browning, Olivia Colman, Jai Courtney, Claudia Doumit, Damon Herriman, Sam Neil, Miranda Otto
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy
Synopsis: Set in a parallel reality where animals talk, hustle, swear, and scheme, THE FOX opens with Nick (Jai Courtney, DANGEROUS ANIMALS, THE SUICIDE SQUAD) discovering that his fiancée Kori (Emily Browning, AMERICAN GODS, SLEEPING BEAUTY) is cheating on him. Forced to come to terms with the fact that their relationship has simmered, he’s devastated. All seems hopeless until Nick captures a fox (Olivia Colman, THE FAVOURITE, THE LOBSTER), who offers unconventional marital advice in exchange for being let free. That advice? She tells him of a magic hole that he should push Kori into, with a promise that she’ll emerge a changed woman. One who will adore him unconditionally, and who will never, ever leave. Not exactly a man of depth, Nick thinks it just may be the thing to do, unaware that there may be a bigger plan in play…
Showings: Sunday August 2, 2026 at 3:40pm
Attack on Paradise
Director: Bob Colaers
Cast: Achmed Akkabi, Jamal Ben Saddik, Said Boumazoughe, Clara Cleymans, Imanuelle Grives
Genre: Action
Synopsis: They say one person’s hell can be another person’s home, but for Suleyman (Saïd Boumazoughe, GANGSTA, REBEL) what was once his home is now hell. 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 Paradise no longer lives up to its name. Drug lord Prince Hamza (Achmed Akkabi, MOCRO MAFFIA) has taken over, placed himself at the top floor and made Paradise his personal fortress. And just as Suleyman returns, a police raid of Paradise begins, one that pits the outmatched and outgunned police against the Prince’s private army. The cops go in hard and are happy to accept innocent dead tenants as collateral damage. Now paired with splintered-off rookie cop Yasmine (Clara Cleymans, MATCH), Suleyman only wants to protect his mother and get her out of Paradise before things get worse, but that’s not going to be easy. Suleyman and Yasmine are now going to take on the Prince’s thugs and retake Paradise floor by floor, flight by flight and fight by fight. And we do mean fight.
Showings: Sunday July 19, 2026 at 9:30pm
Village of Eight Gravestones
Director: Takashi Shimizu
Cast: Matsuya Onoe, Tomoya Oku, Mayu Hotta, Reiko Takashima, Kenichi Takitoh
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: Following the sudden death of his mother, whom he had not seen for several years, Tatsuya decides to visit the rural village where she lived. On his way there, he meets private detective Kosuke Kindaichi, who had been searching for him at the request of the Tajimi clan. Upon arrival, the pair are put up by this mysterious family with a troubled past, who seem to take their lineage and heritage very seriously. In fact, Tatsuya is the last of his line—a fact he was unaware of—and must now come to terms with the massacre once perpetrated by his grandfather, which left a deep scar on the villagers. The villagers now view the Tajimis as a threat responsible for a curse and greet Tatsuya with a certain hostility. Were they wrong? Soon, murders modelled on the masked characters of an ancient traditional dance begin to pile up at an alarming rate. Tension is rising dramatically. With the situation on the verge of exploding, Detective Kindaichi must draw on all his powers of observation and insight to uncover the source and motive behind this bloodbath. Despite his experience, he is ill-prepared for the demonic ramifications of these twisted events.
Showings: Tuesday July 28, 2026
Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
Director: Jane Schoenbrun
Cast: Gillian Anderson, Hannah Einbinder
Genre: Horror
Synopsis: Queer, polyamorous director Kris (Hannah Einbinder, HACKS) is obsessed with rebooting an outdated and overdone slasher franchise, known as CAMP MIASMA. Her complicated and woke filmmaker life is consumed by these problematic movies and especially re-casting the final girl of the original film, Billy Presley (Gillian Anderson, THE X-FILES). Billy Presley is the ultimate slasher love interest, allowing her body and performance to be a place of both pleasure and pain for Kris’ enjoyment and the meta-audience of this franchise and film. Eventually, Kris’ obsession with the final girl transforms from cinephile fixation to full-on psychosexual infatuation. Attempting to modernize a film franchise riddled with ignorant and transphobic tropes, TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA explores how complicated identity and desire is when it is informed by problematic pop culture.
Showings: Friday July 17 at 9:30pm
The Samurai and the Prisoner
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Cast: Masahiro Motoki, Masaki Suda, Yuriko Yoshitaka
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Synopsis: In the final, climactic years of Japan’s bloody Warring States period, Araki Murashige (Masahiro Motoki, DEPARTURES), lord of Settsu province, has suddenly undone his longstanding allegiance to the ruthless warlord Oda Nobunaga. Arioka Castle proves resilient against the ensuing siege from outside, but within its walls, a succession of baffling events threaten the resolve of the defenders. A boy is murdered with a seemingly invisible arrow. An enemy’s severed head becomes startlingly misshapen. A teapot of great value vanishes, and a turncoat is struck by lightning. Four impossible occurrences, one for each season. Signs of divine intervention—or perhaps very human conspiracy. Murashige must unravel these puzzles, and to do so, he must enter into a contest of wits with a man he has chained in his own dungeon, the brilliant strategist Kanbei Kuroda (Masaki Suda, DON’T CALL IT MYSTERY).
Showings: Wednesday July 22, 2026 at 6:30pm
Recluse
Director: Henry Chaisson
Cast: Xander Berkeley, Kimball Farley, Sasha Frolova, Toby Poser
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Synopsis: Home is where you are haunted, or at least this is the case in Henry Chaisson’s (Writer of ANTLERS and SERVANT) feature directorial debut RECLUSE. Joan (Sasha Frolova of THE EMPTY MAN) is a troubled sound engineer who is forced to return home by an ominous call from her ailing, disfigured father (Xander Berkeley of TERMINATOR 2), a famous artist who is rumoured to have dabbled in the occult. Before long, Joan is immersed once again in her childhood home, a once lavish and now dishevelled estate inhabited by her father’s caretaker (Toby Poser of MOTHER OF FLIES), her son (Kimball Farley of HIPPO), and of course the many sins of her father that seem to whisper through every corner of the mansion. Joan needs to face her own trauma and wade through her childhood memories to face her father’s twisted life, drenched in sin and ungodly musings, to truly reveal her evil inheritance. Is Joan doomed by a family curse, or is there something more sinister at the heart of the estate?Home is where you are haunted, or at least this is the case in Henry Chaisson’s (Writer of ANTLERS and SERVANT) feature directorial debut RECLUSE. Joan (Sasha Frolova of THE EMPTY MAN) is a troubled sound engineer who is forced to return home by an ominous call from her ailing, disfigured father (Xander Berkeley of TERMINATOR 2), a famous artist who is rumoured to have dabbled in the occult. Before long, Joan is immersed once again in her childhood home, a once lavish and now dishevelled estate inhabited by her father’s caretaker (Toby Poser of MOTHER OF FLIES), her son (Kimball Farley of HIPPO), and of course the many sins of her father that seem to whisper through every corner of the mansion. Joan needs to face her own trauma and wade through her childhood memories to face her father’s twisted life, drenched in sin and ungodly musings, to truly reveal her evil inheritance. Is Joan doomed by a family curse, or is there something more sinister at the heart of the estate?
Showings: Tuesday July 28, 2026 at 9:35pm