Phil Claydon’s Helloween wastes no time tipping its mask. It opens in 1996 with a cold-blooded murder that plays like a direct homage to Carpenter’s Halloween. From the jump, you know exactly what the film is aiming for.
Read MoreGood Boy (2025)
Ben Leonberg’s Good Boy is one of the year’s most haunting horror films and one of its most heartfelt. Told entirely from the perspective of a dog, the film manages to be both terrifying and profoundly moving, a supernatural tale that doubles as a tribute to the unshakable bond between humans and their four-legged companions. From its opening montage of VHS home videos featuring Larry Fessenden as a doting grandfather, the film traces the life of Indy, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, from playful puppy to devoted adult.
Read MoreBody Blow (2025) #FantasticFest
Dean Francis’s Body Blow arrives with a clear purpose: to reclaim the erotic thriller and inject it with unapologetically queer energy. Premiering at Fantastic Fest 2025, the film delivers a neon-noir crime saga that feels both like a throwback to the sweaty, stylized thrillers of the 1990s and a bold reimagining for today. At its center is Aiden, a disgraced undercover cop battling sex addiction who finds himself pulled into Sydney’s queer underworld.
Read MoreBad Haircut (2025) #FantasticFest
Bad Haircut wastes no time pulling you in. The film opens with a long, unbroken party sequence that instantly calls back to American Pie. It is loud, chaotic, and alive, perfectly setting the tone for what follows.
Read MoreThe Restoration at Grayson Manor (2025) #FantasticFest
Gay, straight, or somewhere in between, when a film is this wild the labels hardly matter. Right from the jump, The Restoration at Grayson Manor hooks you. With its baroque visuals and decadent melodrama, it carries a strange Phantom of the Paradise vibe, all crumbling grandeur, sex, and sinister spectacle.
Read MoreAppofeniacs (2025) #FantasticFest
Chris Marrs Piliero opens his debut feature Appofeniacs with a definition, but he spends the rest of the film showing us exactly what it means. Equal parts horror, satire, and jet-black comedy, this anthology-style thriller hooks you from the opening scene and never lets go. Piliero, an award-winning music video director turned filmmaker, proves he has a sharp eye for lighting and framing.
Read MoreThe Vile (2025) #FantasticFest
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.
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