Every year, the SLASH Film Festival presents around 40 Austrian premieres of the latest genre feature films from around the world, ranging from colorful animated spectacles to gory slasher films. With these five titles, we offer a first glimpse into the breadth of the 2026 festival program:
With his award-winning feature debut (FIPRESCI Prize, Berlinale 2026), ANYMART (JP 2026), Yusuke Iwasaki delivers a magnificent blend of horror, absurd comedy, and social satire: In a quiet corner of Tokyo, the daily work routine of Sakai, assistant manager of a small supermarket, follows its usual dreary course. But when a disruption—subtle at first—begins to spread throughout the store, the monotony of this microcosm of consumerism comes to an end.
ANYMART (JP 2026, Yusuke Iwasaki)Chris Marrs Pilieros’ APPOFENIACS (US 2026) delivers a contemporary, disturbing, and brutal AI nightmare in another feature film debut: Duke is obsessed with creating heinous deepfake videos and unleashing them on the world—without a care for the devastating consequences for his victims or the chaos he sows.
APPOFENIACS (US 2026, Chris Marrs Piliero)
With JIM QUEEN (FR 2026), Nicolas Athane and Marco Nguyen delivered the funniest crowd-pleaser at this year’s Cannes Film Festival: In this animated comedy, the life of queer fitness influencer Jim is thrown into disarray by the Heterose Virus, which turns gay men straight. Together with his young fan Lucien, he embarks on a surreal road trip to save himself and the entire community.
JIM QUEEN (FR 2026, Nicolas Athane, Marco Nguyen)
In RECLUSE (US 2026), sound engineer Joan returns to her childhood home to care for her bedridden father—and is confronted there with the demons of her family’s past and the sinister power of the estate. With his feature film directorial debut, screenwriter Henry Chaisson (ANTLERS) delivers an atmospheric Gothic horror masterpiece featuring outstanding sound design.
RECLUSE (US 2026, Henry Chaisson)
Triggered by monstrous wild boars ravaging the crops, a war is smoldering between farmers and hunters in a small town in northeastern France. As the conflict escalates, police officer Fulda and psychologist Stéphane arrive in the countryside to launch an investigation. With TOO MANY BEASTS (FR 2026), a highly original blend of dark comedy, police procedural, mystery thriller, and romance, Sarah Arnold took home the award for Best European Film at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes in Cannes.
TOO MANY BEASTS (FR 2026, Sarah Arnold)