5 Films We’re Dying To See At This Year’s Fantasia Film Fest 2026

Celebrating its 30th edition in 2026 is The Fantasia International Film Festival which will be returning to the Concordia Hall and J.A de Sève cinemas, with additional screenings and events at Montréal’s Cinéma du Musée, occurring from 16th July through to the 2nd of August, with a plethora of screenings, workshops and events. 

This year’s incredible lineup is due to include over 125 features and 200+ shorts, appealing to a whole spectrum of genre fans with forays into anime, horror, documentary, science fiction, LGBTQIA+, as well as those that blur the lines between genres. 

Five films that are on our must-see watchlist this year includes Christmas comedy horror, Canadian Indigenous psychological terror, Balkan folk horror, bodily gore with that infamous New Zealand comedic sensibilities, and a curse from a master of J-Horror.

1. Unholy Night directed by Michael Gabriele

Fantasia International Film Festival is bringing Christmas to July with Michael Gabriele’s festive horror that depicts a family Christmas Eve celebration gone horribly wrong when the family’s dead nonna decides to make an appearance and paint the town red with a murderous rampage. Bloody yet festively heartfelt, Unholy Night brings a whole new meaning to having to survive another family Christmas. 

2. Ancestral Beasts directed by Tim Riedel

Directed by Métis filmmaker Tim Riedel, Ancestral Beasts is a dark and deeply personal exploration of the horrific reach on intergenerational trauma which follows a grieving woman, Elyse, as she attempts to get some peace in her aunt’s remote cabin, but she soon encounters phenomena that aren’t just stress-induced. Developed with Indigenous Elders, trauma experts, and academics, this feature debut is informed by Riedel’s lived experience as the child of a Sixties Scoop survivor who was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder

3. Motherwitch directed by Minos Papas

Inspired by lesser-known Balkan folklore and the Greek myth of Demeter, Motherwitch is an intense psychological horror told through the lens of a grieving mother who, in order to get all three of her deceased children back, enters into a Faustian pact with chthonic forces. Exploring creation and motherhood against the backdrop of colonialist violence, Papas’ folk horror is made all the more terrifying when gut-wrenching grief spills over into the wider village community.

4. Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant directed by Thunderlips

Directorial duo Jordan Windsor and Sean Wallace, collectively known as Thunderlips, engage the infamous gross-out New Zealand humour with Mum, I’m Alien Pregnant. The feature debut of the filmmaking pair follows homebody Mary who lives with her mother, and also has a strange proclivity for tentacles. When a tentacle-testicled boy moves in next-door, Mary soon finds herself with child. An alien child. The goopy body horror touches on themes of bodily autonomy, agency, and medical neglect, and is more than just a little bit inspired by gross-out maestro himself, Peter Jackson.

5. The Mouths directed by Takashi Shimizu

Directed by one of the ultimate masters of J-Horror, Takashi Shimizu (Ju-On), The Mouths follows college students who take a trip to a supposedly cursed tree. When one of the group becomes afflicted with a mysterious trance which causes her to babble incoherently, and then disappear once back on campus, the students begin to see a ghostly woman who haunts them. Interweaving mystery and traditional J-Horror scares, The Mouths signifies Shimizu’s incredible return to the screen, with not one, but three new releases this year, including Village of Eight Gravestones which is also being shown at this year’s Fantasia.

For the very latest in up-to-date information on this year’s screenings and events, follow the Fantasia International Film Festival on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and X/Twitter.