Majid Al Ansari’s The Vile is not a typical haunted house horror film. Instead, it is a slow-burn descent into grief, betrayal, and madness, filtered through a deeply cultural lens. Building on the promise of his debut Zinzana, Al Ansari blends intimate family drama with nightmarish supernatural flourishes, creating a story that is as emotionally devastating as it is terrifying.
Read MoreDolly (2025) #FantasticFest
Rod Blackhurst’s Dolly is the kind of horror movie that sneaks into your bones and makes you feel unsafe even in broad daylight. Filmed on Super 16mm, it’s a gritty, grain-soaked nightmare that feels unearthed from some cursed VHS bin, yet it pulses with fresh, feral energy. A love letter to Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the new French Extremity, Dolly doesn’t just borrow from its influences; it weaponizes them.
Read MoreCoyotes (2025) #FantasticFest
Creature features have always thrived on absurd premises, but Colin Minihan’s Coyotes takes that tradition and tears into it with teeth bared. A horror-comedy about a Hollywood Hills family under siege by a pack of unnervingly intelligent coyotes, this is one of the most entertainingly unhinged genre films of the year and one of the better horror openers in recent memory. The setup is surprisingly plausible: a Santa Ana windstorm traps the Stewarts, Scott, Liv, and their daughter Chloe in their hillside home, cut off from help just as the coyotes close in.
Read MoreHaunted Hotel: Season 1 (2025)
Netflix’s Haunted Hotel, created by Matt Roller and executive produced by Chris McKenna, Dan Harmon, Steve Levy, and Roller himself, is a nostalgic, spooky delight for anyone who grew up on edgy, early-2000s Cartoon Network. Animated by Titmouse, the series perfectly balances creepy charm, clever writing, and just enough irreverence to stand apart from other adult animation. The premise is playful yet simple: a single mother of two is trying to run a haunted hotel with the reluctant help of her estranged brother, who just happens to be one of the ghosts.
Read MoreWaltzing with Brando (2024)
I never imagined Billy Zane as Marlon Brando, but holy shit, he looks and sounds just like him. If Hollywood ever got reckless enough to remake The Godfather, Don Vito is already cast. Zane’s performance is so eerily convincing that his recreations of Brando’s most iconic moments dazzle in a way that makes you want to watch them side by side with the originals.
Read MoreLondon Calling (2025)
What happens when a hitman gets old? That’s the central question of London Calling, Allan Ungar’s R-rated action-comedy that pairs Josh Duhamel with Jeremy Ray Taylor in one of the unlikeliest and surprisingly most entertaining buddy movies of the year. Duhamel, briefly bald at the start and looking like he walked straight out of a Hitman game, plays Tommy Ward, a washed-up assassin on the run after killing the wrong man.
Read MoreThe Jester 2 (2025)
The Jester franchise has always had potential, but the first feature outing felt lackluster compared to the shorts that made the character a cult favorite. The Jester 2 marks a clear step forward. From the opening scene, it announces itself with a fresh and grotesque reintroduction to the villain: his mask no longer sits like a costume but instead appears fused to his flesh, blood seeping around the edges as if it has become a part of him. The imagery, reminiscent of Splatterhouse’s Terror Mask, instantly sets the tone.
Read MoreTraumatika (2024)
Traumatika opens with a statement about the five forms of childhood trauma, setting the stage for what could have been an unsettling and focused horror exploration of generational abuse. Directed, produced, and edited by Pierre Tsigaridis, the film is part possession horror, part slasher, part talk-show melodrama, and that genre mash-up is both its strength and its downfall. The marketing push leaned into notoriety, with its trailer banned from YouTube, sparking curiosity about what could possibly be too extreme for the platform.
Read More