Fantasia 2026: My Five Most Anticipated Films

Fantasia turns thirty, so now we are calling it Fanthirty! The Montreal-based festival is back, and Reviews On Reels will cover it both remotely and in person for its second consecutive year.

WHAT IS FANTASIA?

Founded in 1996 in Montreal, Fantasia is North America’s largest genre festival. This year alone, it features over 125 feature films and more than 200 shorts. Unlike TIFF, Cannes, and other festivals covered by Reviews On Reels, it is not desperately seeking to reveal the next Oscar contender but to introduce the next midnight cult classic.

This festival features a diverse lineup, including horror, sci-fi, fantasy, action, animation, and some films too strange to classify. It also has a great share of Asian films (got it? Fant + Asia), from Hong Kong martial arts to Japanese drama.

It’s essentially a curated collection of hidden gems you might discover in a midnight sidebar elsewhere, but here, it takes over the entire program. All while being enjoyed by one of the world’s most enthusiastic and participatory audiences.

MOVIES WE ARE MOST EXCITED FOR

Reviews On Reels will mostly cover the festival remotely, thanks to the generous distributors and PR agencies that make it possible. But like last year, we will be on the ground in Montreal for the festival weekend, from July 25 to 27. Our intention, as it was last year, is to cover between ten and fifteen films. Here are the five we are most excited for.

The Fox (Australia, dir. Dario Russo)

Nick, played by Jai Courtney, discovers that his fiancée, Kori (Emily Browning), is cheating on him. He traps a fox, voiced by Olivia Colman, who offers him an alternative: a magic hole to push Kori into, so she emerges loving him. It is the year of forced commitments after all! Dario Russo, making his feature debut after the cult series Danger 5, uses puppeteered animals and a cast including Sam Neill, Miranda Otto, and Damon Herriman. It won the Audience Award for Best Australian Feature at the Sydney Film Festival this June.

Drag (USA, dir. Raviv Ullman and Greg Yagolnitzer)

Two sisters, played by Lizzy Caplan and Lucy DeVito, break into a remote house but have to reconsider their plan when one of them injures her back during the robbery, just as the owner (John Stamos) arrives home unexpectedly. Danny DeVito produces the project, with his daughter Lucy starring in one of the leading roles. It has already run SXSW to great acclaim.

Levitating (Indonesia, dir. Wregas Bhanuteja)

In the village of Latas, spirits take over people during communal trance parties. Bayu (Angga Yunanda) wants to become the chief channeller to prevent his family’s home from being seized. Wregas Bhanuteja’s film combines coming-of-age sports drama with musical elements, including dance sequences in which possessed dancers endure bamboo strikes as massages before the trance concludes. Remember I said that Fantasia showcases films too strange to categorize? This is exactly what I was referring to.

We’re Nothing At All (Hong Kong, dir. Herman Yau)

Herman Yau’s film is based on the 1998 Wuhan bus bombing and follows three men from different backgrounds whose lives intersect after a Valentine’s Day explosion. Known for exploring marginalized communities, Yau crafts a story about strangers connected by a tragic morning. It won the Audience Choice Award at the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

Ferine (Italy, dir. Andrea Corsini)

Irene, a wealthy art collector played by Carolyn Bracken, loses her orderly life to a sudden tragedy that awakens a dangerous instinct. Her transformation catches the attention of Dama (Caroline Goodall), a trafficker of exotic predator cats who sees a new threat in her. Andrea Corsini expands his Venice short into a feature that nods to the stylish, transgressive Italian horror that has been absent from screens for years. To be honest, the premise sounds great, but what I am most excited about is actually Pino Donaggio’s score, whose lush orchestral style defined an era of Italian and De Palma horror.