Fantastic Fest Unveils 2026 Lineup Headlined by ‘Resident Evil,’ ‘Carrie,’ and ‘Wild Horse Nine’

Genre fans, take note. Fantastic Fest, the most reliably eclectic and unapologetically strange American film festival on the fall calendar, has unveiled a lineup that promises to delight any cinephile whose tastes lie outside the conventional.

The 21st edition will kick off with a gala screening of Zach Cregger’s “Resident Evil” — a natural choice, given that it’s both one of the most anticipated genre films of the year and a major priority for Sony, which also owns Alamo Drafthouse and Fantastic Fest. Other highlights include the U.S. premiere of Mike Flanagan’s “Carrie” TV show, the North American premiere of “Victorian Psycho,” a screening of Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine,” and Lionsgate’s jungle survival film “Beware Boiúna,” which will also screen on opening night.

But the real gems of Fantastic Fest are often the films that don’t jump off the page at first glance. The festival’s legendary Burnt Ends section is famous for programming exciting new filmmakers working with low budgets and unconventional stories. The sidebar returns with four microbudget films, and the rest of the lineup is filled with bold domestic and international titles that just might introduce attendees to their new favorite filmmaker.

“This year, we’re doubling down on what we do best: introducing the world to exciting new talent and helping launch filmmakers’ careers,” festival director Lisa Dreyer said in a statement. “We really focused our programming efforts on bringing new discoveries to our audience of discerning and passionate cinephiles. I guarantee we have the next batch of breakout Directors in our lineup, and you’ll discover them first at Fantastic Fest.” 

Fantastic Fest 2026 takes place at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, Texas, from September 17-24. Keep reading for the complete lineup, with language provided by the festival.

3 WEEKS AFTER
Serbia, Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia, Luxembourg, 2026
North American Premiere, 94 min
Director – Miroslav Terzić

Three weeks after his friend’s suicide, a teenager joins his classmates on a school trip. As the bullying escalates and tensions boil over, tongues loosen, forcing the truth out into the open.

5 MORE MINUTES
Spain, 2026
International Premiere, 93 min
Director – Javier Ruiz Caldera

A husband and wife in an ailing marriage discover that actions really do have consequences in this darkly funny twist on the time loop motif.

ADULT SUPERVISION
Sweden, 2026
World Premiere, 108 min
Director – Alex Schulman

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.

ATTACK ON PARADISE
Belgium, The Netherlands, 2026
US Premiere, 99 min
Director – Bob Colaers

After seven years of no sleep, grief, and nightmares, Suleyman finally reunites with his mother in Paradise—just as henchmen, cops, and one very bad raid drag him back into hell.

BEWARE BOIÚNA 
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 104 min
Director – Mike P. Nelson

Deep in the Amazon, a medical mission spirals into a fight for survival when Boiúna, a colossal ancient predator, awakens to reclaim her domain. In the jungle where nature holds absolute power, she decides who lives and who dies.

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
France, 2026
North American Premiere, 114 min
Director – Léa MYSIUS

Happy biiiirthday to you! Nora is turning 40, and for her birthday she’ll be getting three uninvited guests who claim she isn’t who she says she is, plus the unraveling of her carefully constructed life.

THE BLOOD COUNTESS
Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, 2026
North American Premiere, 119 min
Director – Ulrike Ottinger

Elizabeth Báthory, a recently reawakened vampire, pursues an ancient artifact that could destroy her family in present-day Austria.

BLOOD FEAST (Presented by AGFA)
USA, 1963
World Premiere of the 4K Restoration, 67 min
Director – Herschell Gordon Lewis

A 4K restoration of the world’s first “splatter” film from AGFA + Something Weird.

BLOODY TENNIS
Germany, 2026
North American Premiere, 90 min
Director – Nikias Chryssos

Sophie’s coming of age gets sweatier and bloodier than expected when she joins a summer tennis academy where the blood-red morning smoothie is by far the least weird thing going on.

CARRIE (Two Episodes)
Canada, USA, 2026
US Premiere,101 min
Director – Mike Flanagan

After her father’s sudden, untimely death thrusts her into the unforgiving ecosystem of public high school, Carrie is forced to navigate a viral bullying scandal that tears through her community, the relentless pressure and casual cruelty of the social‑media age, and the awakening of mysterious telekinetic powers that rise alongside her adolescence.

CINEMA RECOMPOSED: SILENT MONSTERS (Presented by Golden Hornet)
USA, 1908, 1910, 1912, 1919, 1922, 1929, 1930 
World Premiere, 65 min
Directors – THE THIEVING HAND – Unknown Director / FRANKENSTEIN – J. Searle Dawley / DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE – Lucius J. Henderson / THE GHOST OF SLUMBER MOUNTAIN – Willis O’Brien / HÄXAN: HELL SEQUENCE –  Benjamin Christensen / HELLS BELLS – Ub Iwerks / THE HAUNTED SHIP – John Foster & Mannie Davis

A live string quartet plays new scores for seven classic silent horror short films. Seven composers, aged 17 to 24, composed new scores for these films under the mentorship of some of the industry’s top professionals.

COMPLIANCE
USA, 2026
North American Premiere, 104 min
Director – Kyle Mangione-Smith

A corporate client relations rep pulls a loose string, unraveling a vast conspiracy in this doom-laden found footage stunner.

CORPUS
USA, 2026
US Premiere, 102 min
Director – Corrin Evans

Three friends flee the club scene for an exclusive, steamy party at a remote estate only to find themselves victims of increasingly erotic and violent supernatural attacks.

THE CYCLE
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 111 min
Director – Jordan Downey

When the body of a man missing for thirty-six years is discovered at the scene of a horrific crime, it’s up to his estranged daughter to unravel his dark past.

DEATH HAS NO MASTER
Venezuela, Canada, Italy, Luxembourg, 2026
North American Premiere,106 min
Director – Jorge Thielen Armand

After her father’s death, Caro travels to Venezuela to sell the family cacao plantation, only to find it occupied by a mother who refuses to leave—forcing Caro down a path of violence with devastating consequences.

DEATH OF A YELLOW BIRD
Canada, 2026
World Premiere, 93 min
Director – Cody Calahan

A dying man returns to his childhood home to film messages for his son when he discovers a supernatural presence haunting the isolated cabin in this emotional ghost movie.

DOG GOD
Thailand, 1997
International Premiere, 100 min
Director – Ing K

Banned in Thailand for almost 30 years for insulting religion, and maybe the monarchy too, the elusive DOG GOD emerges as a gleefully anarchic critique of blind faith.

DONKEY PRINCESS
Chile, France, Netherlands, Uruguay, Germany, 2026
North American Premiere, 90 min
Directors – Cristóbal León & Joaquín Cociña

In a kingdom where love has been declared a plague, a princess travels across different realities to find love, confront grief, and attain individuation.

EXTREME PREJUDICE
USA, 1987
Special Presentation, 105 min
Director – Walter Hill

Nick Nolte stars as a Texas Ranger engaged in a showdown against his former childhood friend turned drug kingpin, played by Powers Boothe, in this classic neo-Western action film.

THE FACE OF HORROR
UK, 2026
US Premiere, 120 min
Director – Anna Biller

A vain knight, an inconvenient wife, and a marriage built on murder. Anna Biller’s gloriously lurid ghost story proves that killing your wife may only be the beginning of your problems.

FLAPJAX
USA, Canada, 2026
World Premiere, 98 min
Director – Rocko Zevenbergen

An annoyingly optimistic, but endearingly earnest, fast food restaurant manager is tasked with relaunching the long-dormant product, Flapjax, and no amount of mysterious warnings or disappearances are going to get in his way in this campy horror-comedy.

FRISK
USA,1995
North American Premiere of the 4K Restoration, 89 min
Director – Todd Verow

Tired of only fantasizing about murdering young, attractive men, Dennis decides to take the plunge and do the deed in this restoration of Todd Verow’s 1995 gay serial killer fantasia.

FULL PHIL 
France, USA, 2026
World Premiere, 78 min
Director – Quentin Dupieux

Tim, Eric, K-Stew, Woody, and Dupieux team up in this feature-length comic romp that’ll leave your belly full o’ laffs.

FUTURE TENSE
South Africa, Australia, 2026
US Premiere, 98 min
Director – Jenna Cato Bass

In a dystopian future, a young couple clashes during their time-traveling vacation.

GAME MASTER
France, 2026
International Premiere,89 min
Director – Éric Judor

A joyous celebration of imagination, awkward parenthood, and the transformative power of play that ventures deep into the wonderfully eccentric world of live-action role-playing.

GHOST IN THE CELL
Indonesia, 2026
North American Premiere, 106 min
Director – Joko Anwar

Witness Indonesian genre visionary Joko Anwar’s most deliriously ambitious film: a blood-soaked fusion of supernatural horror, prison thriller, martial arts action, and pitch-black political satire.

GIMME TRUTH
Canada, 2026
US Premiere, 84 min
Directors – Brad Abrahams & Simon Ennis

Delve deep into the world of conspiracy theories in North America in this compassionate documentary by Brad Abrahams and Simon Ennis.

GIRL IN THE NIGHT
Slovenia, 2026
World Premiere, 94 min
Director – Luka Marčetić

In this deadpan Slovenian romp, 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.

THE GLORIOUS DEAD
USA, 2026
US Premiere, 81 min
Directors – John Adams & Toby Poser

A sheriff and her deputy awaken to a world transformed: bloody chasms erupt from the earth, grotesque flesh-born creatures roam the land, and the recently deceased rise again. 

GODMOTHER
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 85 min
Director – John Veron

A meticulously planned desert couples’ vacation spirals into chaos when family tensions and a pair of mysterious hosts with devilish intentions transform a romantic getaway into a nightmare.

HALF
India, 2026
International Premiere, 111 min
Director – Samjad

Two half-human, half-vampire siblings are run off the road and left for dead by a gang of scavengers—and they’re coming back for bloody revenge.

HELL HOUSE (Presented by AGFA)
USA, 2001
World Premiere of the Restoration, 86 min
Director – George Ratliff

A restoration of the essential Y2K-era doc from the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) with director George Ratliff in person.

HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (Presented by Dark Sky Films & AGFA)
USA, 1986
World Premiere of the 35mm print, 83 min
Director – John McNaughton

A brand-new 35mm print produced for the 40th anniversary of one of the 20th century’s most harrowing films, HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER features a chilling, career-defining turn by Michael Rooker.

THE HERETIKS
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 89 min
Director – Gregg Bishop

When a coven of witches determined to unleash the apocalypse marks Ada’s younger sister for sacrifice, she joins forces with a renegade witch in a relentless fight for survival.

I HAVE PROOF (Burnt Ends Selection)
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 76 min
Director – James Cullen Bressack

Alex has proof, and he wants you to see it.

INTO THE SKY
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 97 min
Directors – Evan Wolf Buxbaum & Drew Mylrea

A man’s efforts to win back his estranged wife are derailed by a mysterious extraterrestrial force that keeps snatching him from Earth.

JANUR IRENG: SEWU DINO THE PREQUEL
North American Premiere, 94 min
Director – Kimo Stamboel

Indonesian horror specialist Kimo Stamboel cooks up a deliriously demonic prequel to his box office hit SEWU DINO, as a pair of desperate siblings stumble unwittingly upon a centuries-old satanic ritual orchestrated by their wealthy relatives.

JIM QUEEN
France, 2026
US Premiere, 84 min
Directors – Marco Nguyen & Nicolas Athane

As a virus that turns gay people straight sweeps across the world, Jim Perfect goes on a quest across Paris, with his number one fan Lucien, to find the cure in this animated comedy.

JOLLYFACE
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 77 min
Director – Justin Floyd

A white woman launches her own investigation into her Black fiancé’s violent murder only to find herself hunted in her apartment complex by a killer determined to keep the truth silent.

KICK ON
Australia, 2026
US Premiere, 89 min
Director – Nick Kozakis

Four friends trying to keep their late-night bender going end up at the apartment of a reckless mobster; what starts as a casual substance-fueled afterparty quickly escalates into a violence-filled rager.

KUNG FU DEADLY

Ireland, Australia, 2026
World Premiere, 96 min
Director – Fergal Costello

A late-to-launch young man and his even less responsible friend realize they may be the last line of defense between humanity and an ancient Chinese evil. Martial arts and supernatural horror collide in this romp of a buddy comedy.

KYLGOR IN THE GRISLY ABYSS
Canada, 2026
World Premiere, 74 min
Director – Mason Jeffrey Newton-DeRushie

Grimdark fantasy, an epic quest, buckets of blood… all puppets. Need we say more?

LITTLE DOORS (Burnt Ends Selection)
USA, 2026
US Premiere, 79 min
Director – Anthony Oberbeck

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.

MAGICK MTN. (Burnt Ends Selection)
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 80 min
Directors – Hana Mae Lee & Hal Satin

Ghosts, Goblins, and Crowley. MAGICK MTN. is a rock and roll fairytale set deep in Laurel Canyon using instruments of the occult to dig beneath the soil of a hillside marked by tragedy and death.

MR. CREAMJEANS’ HIDEY HOLE (Burnt Ends Selection)
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 70 min
Director – Heath Benfield

A raunchy series of sexy, horrifying, and hilarious vignettes, MR. CREAMJEANS’ HIDEY HOLE is a shocking, disgusting, and ultimately satisfying anthology that’s never afraid to put a man in his proper place.

NO REST FOR THE WICKED
Denmark, 2026
US Premiere, 103 min
Director – Kasper Kalle

After Baldur is rescued from drowning by a handsome whaler, the two begin a passionate love affair that requires sacrifices to an Elder God to endure.

NO WAY DOWN
France, 2026
World Premiere, 91 min
Directors – Mohamed Chabane & Théo Jourdain

Fresh out of prison, Idriss enters the derelict Kraken apartment complex to find his ex-girlfriend’s brother, only to be dragged back into violence by a ruthless squatter tied to the past Idriss is fighting to leave behind.

OGROFF (Presented by BLEEDING SKULL)
France, 1983
World Premiere of the Restoration, 89 min
Director – Norbert Moutier

Bleeding Skull presents a restoration of the fabled underground slasher from France.

THE ONES WHO GRIEVE
France, 2026
North American Premiere, 116 min
Director – Quarxx

At the end of the 19th century, as a mysterious plague spreads across the countryside, a young woman living under the tyranny of her deeply religious father fights to reclaim her freedom.

PATHETIC FALLACY
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 98 min
Director – Adam Egypt Mortimer

After suffering the devastating loss of his wife, a man embarks on a surreal journey to bring her back.

PHREAKER
Canada, 2026
World Premiere, 98 min
Director – Adam Yorke

A blind lonely teen becomes the latest breed of telecom criminal in this crackling dial-up thriller.

PLATYPUS
Canada, 2026
World Premiere, 85 min
Director – Joshua Gratton

Kimberly’s recurring dreams of a masked killer murdering young people around town progressively close in on her in this Canadian genre experiment.

PLAY HOUSE
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 85 min
Director – Nicolas Jon Curcio

While renovating a dilapidated house to win back his ex, Elliot discovers VHS tapes of an unaired children’s TV show. The show’s dark history seeps into his life, threatening his last chance at reconciliation. Winner of the 2025 Fantastic Pitches.

POSTHUMOUS
Australia, 2026
World Premiere, 110 min
Director – Josh Tanner

Zoe 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.

A PRAYER FOR THE DYING
Norway, Greece, UK, Sweden, 2026
North American Premiere, 95 min
Director – Dara Van Dusen

In a rural Wisconsin town in 1870, Sheriff Jacob Hansen—a man still haunted by the Civil War—is pushed to his psychological limits when a deadly plague sweeps through his community and encroaching wildfires close in.

RED SNOW
Finland, Estonia, Sweden, 2026
World Premiere, 92 min
Director – Ilja Rautsi

A vampire posing as Santa Claus invades the home of a family whose rebellious teenage daughter wants only one thing: to become a vampire herself and escape her miserable life.

RESIDENT EVIL
USA, 2026
Gala Screening, 93 min
Director – Zach Cregger

From the mind of visionary filmmaker Zach Cregger (WEAPONS, BARBARIAN) comes a thrilling — and terrifying — reinvention of the RESIDENT EVIL franchise. In an all-new story, Resident Evil follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos. From TriStar Pictures, Constantin Film, and Davis Films, RESIDENT EVIL hits theatres September 18, 2026.

RIVER
USA, 2026
US Premiere, 92 min
Director – Joshua Giuliano

When three estranged siblings reunite in their hometown after the death of their father, they set out to scatter his ashes at his favorite spot on a remote river. But when their boat breaks down, the trip devolves into a waking nightmare.

ROMA ELASTICA
France, Italy, 2026
North American Premiere, 107 min
Director – Bertrand Mandico

French cinema maestro Bertrand Mandico and mega-starlet Marion Cotillard broadcast a daring hyper-pulp transmission straight from 1980s Italian cinema.

ROY FROM SPACE
Mexico, 1983
World Premiere of the Restoration, 64 min
Director – Héctor López Carmona

An evil space emperor plots to take over the Earth in this restoration of one of the first fully animated feature films from Mexico.

SCREAMPLAY
USA, 1984
World Premiere of 4K Restoration, 93 min
Director – Rufus Butler Seder

Your new favorite queer horror rediscovery, newly restored.

SICK
Poland, 2026
World Premiere, 90 min
Director – Agata Trzebuchowska

Things spiral out of control in more ways than one when two siblings are tasked with caring for their ailing grandma.

THE SPIRAL
Italy, France, Belgium, 2026
US Premiere, 115 min
Director – Paolo Strippoli

When Alice’s estranged mother arrives with a confession about a twenty-year-old bargain, Alice discovers that the miracle that saved her came with a debt… and the bill has finally come due.

THE SQUIRREL
Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, 2026
International Premiere, 92 min
Director – Markus Lehmusruusu

In a sterile future devoid of nature where emotions are forbidden, a toy designer developing robotic companion dogs rescues an injured squirrel, setting him on a journey of self-discovery and societal rebellion.

THE SWALLOW
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 82 min
Directors – Kevin Kölsch & Dennis Widmyer

A sentient, quicksand-like sludge terrorizes a group of young people in this brutally efficient, effects-forward creature feature.

TOO MANY BEASTS
France, 2026
North American Premiere, 96 min
Director – Sarah Arnold

Transferred to the French countryside, a disgraced cop investigates a rift between the local farmers and hunters, uncovering corruption that runs far deeper than the damage the exploding population of wild boars has wreaked on the region’s crops.

UPIRO
Spain, 2026
World Premiere, 106 min
Director – Óscar Martín

In the Age of Enlightenment, Ana is sent to a remote monastery to atone for her sins. There, she finds a place plagued by a mysterious blood disease linked to a supernatural being: the upyr.

ÜREI
Kazakhstan, 2026
World Premiere, 80 min
Director – Yerkezhan Baizhan

When a young girl is left with her aging grandmother in rural Kazakhstan, an ordinary act of familial care quickly turns into an unsettling descent into the unknown where loss can take monstrous forms.

VERTIGINOUS 
France, 2026
US Premiere,67 min
Director – Quentin Dupieux

Quentin Dupieux offers a delightfully off-kilter take on the simulation hypothesis with early Y2K graphics and his trademark deadpan wit, turning the theory into an absurdly funny mirror of contemporary life.

VICTORIAN PSYCHO 
USA, 2026
North American Premiere, 102 min
Director – Zachary Wigon

Set in Victorian England, VICTORIAN PSYCHO sees an eccentric governess arrive at a remote gothic manor, where strange happenings stir suspicion that she’s not what she seems.

WELCOME TO DOLLY’S HOUSE
R.O.C. (Taiwan), 2026
North American Premiere, 86 min
Directors – Seven Ych, Rady Fu, & Tree Muta

Taiwan’s first major rotoscoped 2D animated feature tells the story of a ghost-debunking influencer who begins to question her own identity after entering the mansion of a famously reclusive doll-maker.

WHAT HAPPENED TO DORIS?
USA, 2026
World Premiere, 92 min
Director – Nick Simon

Based on the terrifying true story that inspired THE ENTITY, WHAT HAPPENED TO DORIS? follows a single mother whose violent encounters with an unseen force draw UCLA investigators into one of the most infamous paranormal cases in American history. 

WILD HORSE NINE
UK, USA, Chile, 2026
Texas Premiere,118 min
Director – Martin McDonagh

A CIA mission to Easter Island unravels amid conspiracies, secrets, and Chile’s looming coup.