Fantasia 2026: 'Matapanki' Movie Review

We’ve all had too much to drink and thought we had super powers, right? What Chilean writer/director Diego “Mapache” Fuentes supposes is: what if those powers were real? The resulting film is Matapanki, a frenetic blast of gritty punk vibes and chaos overflowing with hardscrabble energy and breakneck pace. This is not for everyone, or even most people, but hot damn is this ever a movie for me.

Fantasia 2026: 'Our Effed Up World' Movie Review

At this point, it wouldn’t feel like Fantasia without an offering from Alice Maio Mackay. The prolific Australian filmmaker has dropped vampires, ancient parasites, cult murders, and even a Christmas movie, among others delightful genre goodies. She’s back once again with the world premiere of Our Effed Up World, tackling a neon-soaked ‘80s throwback sci-fi horror with her roguish, lo-fi, deep-baked queer sensibilities, and the result is a damn fine time.

Fantasia 2026: 'Attack On Paradise' Movie Review

“This is really bad timing, babe.” For Suleyman (Said Boumazoughe), the protagonist of Bob Colares's new action-thriller, Attack on Paradise, this is easily the understatement of a lifetime, considering he’s about to embark on a day that plays out like a mix of The Raid and Walking Tall. 

Fantasia 2026: 15 Movies To See

Every year I scale back a little more and a little more on reviews and movie coverage. At this point, I barely cover wide, mainstream releases, and I’ve scaled film festival coverage down to a bare minimum. But like clockwork, when this time of year rolls around, I can’t escape the allure of Fantasia. 

'Man Of War' (2026) Movie Review

In writer/director William Kaufman’s new action film, Man of War, we meet our protagonist, Connor (LaMonica Garret), an elite spec-ops veteran, like we always meet this character in movies. He’s shirtless, so we can see both his muscles and his scars from a lifetime of combat, drinking straight from a bottle of booze, staring at a photo of a lost or distant loved one, a loaded gun on the table in front of him. He’s a man lost, adrift, uncertain of how to live in a world beyond the bounds of warfare. 

'Kraken' (2026) Movie Review

A remote Norwegian fjord. A legacy of strange occurrences. Disappearing tourists. Environmental degradation. A corrupt business using questionable technology with unexpected side effects. All of this adds up to a big old mess in director Pal Oie’s new creature feature, Kraken, with mixed results. On one hand, it can be a thrilling adventure about human meddling waking up an unforeseen natural threat from the chilly depths of the ocean. On the other, it’s awash in cliches and a slow burn to the point where the fuse almost goes entirely out.

'Chum' (2026) Movie Review

I’m almost always game for a cheapo, nature-gone-wild movie, especially one involving sharks. This year has already seen a wild amount of animal-attack films. In the first six months we’ve had Primate, Thrash, Deep Water, Killer Whale, and just this week the hippo-rampage adventure Hungry. I feel like I’m even forgetting a few, but you get the point. And there are at least a handful more still scheduled to release in 2026. All of this brings us to Chum, which is dire, nonsensical, and borderline competent.