BLOODY TENNIS (DE 2026, Nikias Chryssos)
Hard serves, grotesque comedy, and bloodthirsty leeches: In BLOODY TENNIS (DE 2026) by Nikias Chryssos (A PURE PLACE, SLASH 2021), Sophie is accepted into an elite tennis academy, where she is confronted not only with the brutality of competitive sports but also with the increasingly sinister goings-on at the institute. How high a price is she willing to pay for her ambition?
THE FOX (AU 2025, Dario Russo)
In Dario Russo’s star-studded, bizarrely funny feature film debut THE FOX (AU 2025), Nick is cheated on by his fiancée. When a talking vixen (voiced by the fabulous Olivia Colman) snares him one night, she offers him a magical deal in exchange for her life to save his relationship. Spectacular animal animatronics and Sam Neill in one of his last (speaking) roles as a vulgar magpie!
HOKUM (IE/AE 2026, Damian McCarthy)
Adam Scott is sucked into a folk nightmare in HOKUM (IE/AE 2026) by Damian McCarthy (ODDITY, SLASH 2024, CAVEAT, SLASH 2021) into a folk nightmare: To scatter his parents’ ashes, writer Ohm retreats to a remote inn in Ireland, where he becomes consumed by stories of a supposedly haunting witch. Disturbing visions and a shocking event force him to confront the dark abysses of his past.
NEVER AFTER DARK (JP 2026, Dave Boyle)
Medium Airi is called to a mansion in the woods to free a mother and her adult son from a troublesome ghost. What initially sounds like a routine job quickly turns out to be a complex case—there’s something fishy about this spirit. With NEVER AFTER DARK (JP 2026), Dave Boyle weaves a clever and eerie take on the haunted house genre, its heart centered on the extraordinary bond between two sisters.
SPECIES (FR/BE 2026, Marion Le Coroller)
Marion Le Corroller presents her impressive feature film debut, the gritty body horror film SPECIES (FR/BE 2026): Margot is an intern at one of the country’s most demanding emergency rooms and is barely able to keep up in this ultra-stressful environment. When she is confronted with several patients her own age who are exhibiting unusual symptoms, disturbing changes suddenly begin to manifest in her own body as well.
YOU ARE THE FILM (JP 2026, Makoto Ueda)
With YOU ARE THE FILM (JP 2026), Makoto Ueda—screenwriter of the SLASH audience favorites RIVER (SLASH 2023) and BEYOND THE INFINITE TWO MINUTES (SLASH 2021)—makes his directorial debut: Makoda lives in Tokyo, while Kazuma lives in the neighboring town of Sangenjaya. Both go to the movies and see each other’s lives playing out on the screen. In this impossible situation, they begin to communicate through the films and influence the “plot,” which inevitably plunges them into chaos. Fans of Ueda’s surreal, fun mind-benders will be delighted by this one, too!