Horror Film Season is Officially Here as Fantastic Fest 2026 Kicks Off This Week

Fantastic Fest 2026 Preview

It really can’t be overstated just how bonkers the horror filmmaking industry has become over the past few years. For those who have been horror fans or filmmakers for years or decades, it might not be a surprise that films like Obsession and Backrooms broke through to huge box office and cultural success.

But for those seeing the darkness for the first time, Fantastic Fest is one of the best film festivals to dive deep into genre filmmaking at its finest. In our coverage last year, we explored why the festival's 20-year anniversary was one of the most important ever for horror filmmakers, with notable titles like Primate, Black Phone 2, and Shelby Oaks among the big headlines.

If you missed our coverage last year, you can check out our wrap-up podcast here.

This year looks to be just as intriguing and inspiring, with a solid mix of major premieres and up-and-coming horror indies, which we’re excited to cover and explore over the next week. So check out some of our top picks below, and stay tuned for more coverage to come.

'Resident Evil'

Kicking off the festival's opening night is Zach Cregger’s follow-up to Weapons and Barbarian: the premiere of Resident Evil. Set to be a reinvention of the Resident Evil video game franchise on the big screen.

The film looks to be following an all-new story and will likely provide an awesome mix of action and horror, along with some expected well-timed laughs as we’ve seen in Cregger’s previous work—which helps to provide relief for those of us who stress out during endless horror and carnage.

From the official Fantastic Fest film guide:

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. (TRISTAR PICTURES)

'Play House'

As we covered in our wrap-up podcast last year, one interesting wrinkle at Fantastic Fest 2026 was the introduction of an inaugural Fantastic Pitches contest, where filmmakers took the stage at the Highball (the bar at the Alamo Drafthouse that hosts the festival).

The winners from last year's Fantastic Pitches laid out a vision that was impressively brought to life in time for its premiere at Fantastic Fest this year. It looks promising as well, with a strong cast, and already seems like a great lesson in indie filmmaking resolve.

From the official Fantastic Fest film guide:

While cleaning out the basement of his new home, Elliot discovers some old VHS tapes crammed into the dark reaches of the broken water heater. Each musty tape contains an episode of a children’s television show that not even the darkest nerd corners of the internet can identify. The show’s host Mr. Morton (James Urbaniak from OPPENHEIMER) smiles with the kind of warmth that curdles a few seconds too late, and his monster friends feel less like puppets than something that used to be. The more he watches, the more we appreciate our rental agreements. (AHBRA PERRY)

'Carrie'

One fun element of Fantastic Fest that’s been demonstrated over the years is that once a filmmaker comes out, they’re often back year after year with new projects and new frights. And that’s certainly the case again this year, as Mike Flanagan returns to Fantastic Fest with the first two episodes of the new Carrie miniseries, which is set to release on Amazon Prime in October.

It’s not the first time Flanagan has handled Stephen King's work, and we expect another solid series that should bring the 1974 novel to life once again and perhaps expand on the cinematic success of Brian De Palma’s 1976 classic.

From the official Fantastic Fest film guide:Misfit high‑schooler Carrie White (Summer H. Howell) has spent her life hidden away inside the walls of her home with her fiercely protective mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan). 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.

Told over eight propulsive episodes, the series expands King’s cultural landmark — deepening its characters and tensions, and following the small, everyday choices that build toward a single, shattering night, in a gripping, deeply human story about kindness versus cruelty, and whether we’re witnessing the making of a hero, a monster, or something far more complicated. (AMAZON MGM STUDIOS)

'Kick On'

Also, while Fantastic Fest is becoming more and more known as a horror festival, its roots are really in genre films, and even with a ton of horror and fans in attendance, there are still plenty of non-horror, or horror-adjacent, genre films to check out.

Kick On seems like a good example of the genre-bending diversity the festival always offers, with high energy, lots of wild fights, and a solid mix of horror and non-horror brutality.

From the official Fantastic Fest film guide:

As a fan of Irish goodbyes, a bad party you can't escape from is one of my worst nightmares. KICK ON is far from your typical D.A.R.E. after-school special, delivering a drug-fueled crime thriller with enough gore, impalings, and relentless mayhem to rival the nastiest slashers. Director Nick Kozakis continues to cement himself as an original voice in the Australian Horror New Wave, blending razor-sharp pacing and an infectious sense of fun that never undercuts the brutality of the film. KICK ON shows how Australian genre cinema remains as wild, inventive, and unapologetic as ever. Fantastic Fest is thrilled to host the US Premiere of KICK ON. So, grab your mates; this is one party you won't want to miss. (RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ)

'Into the Sky'

Along with horror and action, there’s often plenty of similarly horror-adjacent films to check out that can provide a nice break from the jump scares and psychological freakouts.

Into the Sky is set to feature an ensemble cast of Sam Richardson, Sofia Black-D'Elia, and David Cross, and it looks like an interesting genre mashup that takes on aliens, comedy, and probably a lot more that we’re excited to experience ourselves.

From the official Fantastic Fest film guide:

Beginning as an intriguing abduction mystery centered on Bobby's desperate attempts to understand what is happening to him, INTO THE SKY gradually reveals itself to be something more far out. Elevated by a solid ensemble including Sam Richardson, Sofia Black-D'Elia, and David Cross, the film refuses to stay grounded in a single genre. Combining a heartfelt romance, cosmic mystery, and light comedy, directors Drew Mylrea and Evan Wolf Buxbaum craft a genre mash-up that will lift its audience up into unexpected places. (RAFAEL RODRIGUEZ)

'Mr. Creamjeans' Hidey Hole'

Along with genre diversity, Fantastic Fest also does a good job showcasing scale, with both tentpole action franchises launching and up-and-coming indie filmmakers delivering slashes and scares on micro budgets.

The creative ensemble behind Mr. Creamjeans' Hidey Hole is a nice example of what a group of friends passionate about outlandish, over-the-top, psychosexual horror can make together and subject an audience to view and enjoy, along with them.

From the official Fantastic Fest film guide:

MR. CREAMJEANS' HIDEY HOLE is a bold and unapologetic first feature from director Heath Benfield and writers Josh Griffey (Mr. Creamjeans himself) and Jonathan Holiday, who, along with other cast and crew, make up the film collective Misfit Parade. For the last several years, Misfit Parade have honed their skills and their “Troma, but elevated” sensibilities on a series of bawdy shorts, building a dedicated audience who shares their sense of humor and need to emasculate male entitlement. Don’t miss your opportunity to become a misfit and see this future cult classic first in its World Premiere at Fantastic Fest. (KEV DOOLEY)

'Bloody Tennis'

Another slasher-with-a-new-twist film we’re excited to check out at the festival is Nikias Chryssos’s Bloody Tennis, which—you guessed it—adds another new framing wrinkle to everyone’s favorite film style.

From the write-up on the Fantastic Fest website, the film looks to be a “Suspiria-inspired world” that is “as visually playful as it is unexpectedly emotional.” Like many films at the festival, it's also paired with an opening short, this one by director Elaine Frost, titled By Yourself.

From the official Fantastic Fest film guide:

Nikias Chryssos pushes familiar ideas about discipline, sacrifice, and competitive excellence into grotesque territory, turning the academy into a satire of performance culture itself: a world where every body must be optimized, every weakness corrected, and almost any damage can be reframed as commitment if it produces a winner. Hello, modern world. But the satire lands because Sophie genuinely wants what the academy is offering. The better she becomes, the more willing she is to accept its logic, and the price is paid through the people around her. With its sun-washed whites, eruptions of blood-red, and queasy humor, BLOODY TENNIS is as visually playful as it is unexpectedly emotional. Now, I have only been to Roland-Garros once, but I am fairly certain this is not how tennis academies normally operate. (SONIA DROULHIOLE)