What makes a film festival — or a film, for that matter — “genre?” As a category, it’s more about what you leave out than what you put in: Although horror, science fiction, and fantasy have always been at the core of its programming, at the Fantasia International Film Festival, you’ll also find crime thrillers, martial arts adventures, supernatural romances, and deeply weird surrealist comedies. About the only thing you won’t find are straightforward dramas — unless they also happen to involve werewolves, or maybe an infamous true-crime case.
This ethos has sustained Fantasia through three decades, and last month the festival celebrated its 30th edition with headliners that included Her Private Hell, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, The Samurai and the Prisoner, and Hot Spot — all previously covered here at Inverse. Beyond the marquee titles, however, navigating the Fantasia lineup can be intimidating: Stretched out over three weeks and featuring more than 100 short and feature films, it can be difficult to navigate without a guide. Luckily, Inverse spent 10 days in Montreal checking out this year’s offerings, and is here with 10 new movies to watch out for from Fantasia 2026.
