Fantasia Film Festival 2026 is over, and we saw more than 20 films between us. These are the six that stuck.

Meaghan and Arthur close out Grave Tone's Fantasia Film Festival 2026 coverage with a mini wrap-up of their best horror films of the fest. No ranking (Meaghan ranked hers anyway). Just the movies that are still living in our heads two weeks later, plus honorable mentions and the release dates you actually need.

Fantasia Film Festival 2026 wrapped, and we saw more than 20 films between us. No ranking, just the six that stuck, plus when you can watch them.

Fantasia 2026 Vampire Horror: No Rest for the Wicked

  • Kasper Kalle's queer vampire period piece, set on the Faroe Islands in 1862, follows a young fisherman and a stranded whaler.
  • The vampire lore here is not the lore you know, and that is the whole point.
  • Gorgeous start to finish (the Robert Eggers comparison is earned) with chemistry that carries the entire film.
  • Won two Cheval Noir awards at Fantasia. Opens in Danish cinemas September 3. No North American date yet.

Korean Zombie Horror: Colony from Yeon Sang-ho

  • The Train to Busan writer-director returns to zombies a decade later, and it is nothing like Train to Busan.
  • A biotech conference gets sealed off after a bioterrorism attack. The infected share information through spores and function as a hive mind.
  • Characters make smart decisions, which is Arthur's entire personality at this point.
  • Yeon Sang-ho's zombie run: Train to Busan, the animated Seoul Station, then Peninsula in 2020. Colony is a standalone.

Killer Mascot Horror: Buddy and the Too Many Cooks Effect

  • Casper Kelly (Too Many Cooks, Adult Swim Yule Log) made a horror movie that asks what if Barney was a monster.
  • We caught the international premiere at Fantasia and stayed for the Q and A.
  • It uses the uncanny sitcom-credits trick from Too Many Cooks and pushes it somewhere much worse.
  • Funnier than you expect and considerably gorier than you expect.

Superpowers as Horror: Freaks Part II

  • Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein's sequel closed the festival as a world premiere.
  • Think X-Men, except the powered people are the ones being hunted.
  • Each generation born to powered parents comes out stronger, which is where the sequel expands past the first film's isolation.
  • The original Freaks (2018) is streaming free with ads on Plex. Watch it first.

Queer Slasher Joy: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma

  • Jane Schoenbrun's film is a full 180 from the sadness of I Saw the TV Glow.
  • Made from joy and love for the horror genre, and every frame shows it.
  • Self-aware about slasher tropes without ever sneering at them.
  • Instant cult classic (the merch already exists). Our full review episode is up.

Honorable Mentions and Release Dates

  • The Leader dramatizes the Heaven's Gate UFO group, with Vera Farmiga and Tim Blake Nelson.
  • Colony and Buddy both land in theatres the same day at the end of August. Make a weekend of it.
  • Freaks Part II has distribution but no date yet.
  • More Grave Tone incoming: mini episodes, childhood trauma entries, and interviews.

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Background music by: Steve Swisher from the Producer's Chair Podcast


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