Panic Fest 2026: The Burning of Broken Beak (2026)

Director: Christian Carroll

Notable Cast: Briar Rose, Lydia Peckham, Katlyn Wong, Joel Tobeck, Jonny Brugh, Rob Kipa-Williams, Bruce Hopkins, Bala Murali Shingade, Beth Alexander, William Zhang

 

I’m a sucker for a good folk horror story. Throw in some kind of ancient legend, told in rhyme and shown with stylized animation, and put in a touch of body horror, and suddenly I’m doing a skip down the walk in anticipation of seeing it. For The Burning of Broken Beak, writer/director/editor/most everything under the sun Christian Carroll is aiming for something of a modern folk horror tale and he manages to conjure up something that feels like it owes its cornerstones to the folk horror of yesteryears, but manages to modernize in a way that feels relevant and potent for the last couple of years. While the film tends to play things slightly on the safe side with its horror elements until its final act, spending much of its runtime on a murder-mystery plot, it also packs an impactful amount of dynamite into its final act, putting it above and beyond some of its indie genre peers. And it certainly doesn’t feel bird-brained in the process. 

 

Its central character, Emma, played by Briar Rose, returns to New Zealand with her girlfriend from her life as a photographer in New York to attend the reading of her adopted uncle’s will after he is horrifically murdered. However, with a massive inheritance on the line, the family quickly comes into odds with one another. It’s too bad, though, because their squabbles have seemingly unleashed a curse upon the family of the old Māori legend of a human-sized bird who was slaughtered when she stood up against colonists. Now the family is being killed one by one, leaving Emma as the prime suspect. Visions of Broken Beak haunt her, and Emma must uncover whether the curse is real or if there’s more to her family than even she thought. 

 

Panic Fest 2026: Buffet Infinity (2026)

Director: Simon Glassman

Notable Cast: Kevin Singh, Claire Theobald, Donovan Workun

 

Much of modern storytelling, through whatever media you choose - whether it's book, TV, movie, or even the internet, is being built on nostalgia and meta-narratives. For many of us, remembering what something was like in the media from 20 or 30 years ago is ripe for analysis and exploitation. Releases like ‘legacy sequels’ or shows like Stranger Things aim to evoke nostalgia and meta commentary to sell their material. Remember how we felt about Star Wars? Or the old Steven Spielberg films? Remember when Rosanne was one of the best sitcoms on TV? Try out The Connors. You’ll feel the same. 

 

However, there’s a sect of artists out there who use these same tactics to weaponize those concepts against their viewers, creating intriguing slices of art. The Adult Swim segment Too Many Cooks used the opening credits of an early-90s sitcom to kick-start its own descent into unnerving territory. Watching that on my phone while riding on a train in the middle of the night certainly added to it, but there was a bold, artistic, and often satirical slant to it that left me unnerved. 

 

It’s been over a decade since I saw that segment, and this approach to undercutting nostalgic elements is only finding more footing. Take Buffet Infinity as the prime example of such. This instant cult classic uses local commercials as canvases to paint a narrative around the horrors of capitalism through a cosmic-horror lens. Yes, you read that right. Buffet Infinity is an entire film made of clips of fake commercials for small-town businesses, news segments, and infomercials. Yet, it’s incredibly poignant in its tone, sociopolitical commentary, and razor-sharp writing that it manages to be hilarious, sorrowful, and utterly terrifying - oftentimes within one moment. It’s fucking brilliant. 

 

Panic Fest 2026: Pitfall (2026) Review

Director: James Kondelik

Notable Cast: Alex Essoe, Marshall Williams, Richard Harmon, Jordan Claire Robbins, Matt Hamilton, Randy Couture

 

Within the first ten or fifteen minutes of Pitfall, there are literally three instances of deer being killed. Now, granted, one of them is in a hallucinatory state for one of its lead characters, but it certainly set the stage for how I was going to watch this film.  Cause that’s certainly a silly choice, and I kind of appreciate it cause it does set the stage for what one can expect from the two-tone approach that Pitfall is using as its concept. 

 

Despite perhaps hitting the hammer on the head about the film’s ‘nature can be dangerous’ themes that are layered into the two genres that it's mish-mashing together - the survival film and the slasher, Pitfall is certainly a film that has a lot more going for it in the undertones than what I expected. This is the two-tone approach that director James Kondelik is aiming for with this film.  

 

Get Cooked: Hellfire (2026) Review

Director: Isaac Florentine

Cast: Stephen Lang, Scottie Thompson, Chris Mullinax, Johnny Yong Bosch, Dolph Lundgren, Michael Sirow, Harvey Keitel

 

Back in the late 00s and the early 10s, if you wanted to find great old school action, you would scan the internet for Isaac Florentine. His ‘straight-to-video’ (a term that essentially doesn’t exist thanks to streaming now) affairs were some of the best you could find. His work with classic icons like Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme was fun, and his partnership with Scott Adkins defined that era for incredible action. I’d still argue that Ninja: Shadow of a Tear is one of the greatest action films ever made, and I will absolutely fight you if you disagree.

 

However, Florentine’s career has been much rockier lately. Some of this is due to trying some new styles, working in slightly different genres, or partnering with different stars, but it felt like some of the shine was being dulled. It culminated in Hounds of War, an ultimately droll affair with Frank Grillo on autopilot and horrendous editing and action design that felt completely out of sync with what one expects from a Florentine flick.

 

Thus, my expectations for Hellfire were relatively muted. Sure, it has a hell of a cast, including Stephan Lang as the special ops veteran caught in the criminal web of a small town, but even that was not necessarily as exciting as I hoped for. Yet, while Hellfire certainly struggles to find some of its voice in the first 45 minutes and really loves to hammer down on those straight-to-VOD action tropes, it is something of a bounce back for Florentine. Its foundations are solid, the main performances - even if tropey - feel engaged, and the back end of the film really starts rollicking once tensions of its generic script finally pop. By the end, I was totally engulfed by the fun and surprising moments that Hellfire was delivering. Enough so that there’s a part of me that hopes Florentine has found his new franchise in the wandering warrior that Stephan Lang is bringing to the table. 

 

Slice of Strife: The Wailing (2025) Review

Director: Pedro Martín Calero

Notable Cast: Ester Expósito, Mathilde Ollivier, Malena Villa, Claudia Roset, José Luis Ferrer, Lia Lois, Sonia Almarcha, Tomás del Estal, Lautaro Bettoni, Alex Monner

 

The entire arthouse horror aspect of pairing "haunting" and "trauma" has now become a staple of the genre, but The Wailing approaches it in a fascinating way. The film essentially tells its tale through three women through two different time frames. It's a slow-burn narrative that focuses on how this haunting builds from the mundane to the manic, and on not being up front with its terrors, but seeding them under the skin and in the folds of the brain. Sure, it’s the kind of horror film that seems fairly par-for-the-course now in a post-A24 era, but don’t sell The Wailling short - it has a voice, and it's executed impressively. 

 

The Wailing is a film that might be compared to other haunting/trauma films, like the socio-hauntings of It Follows or the technological horrors of The Ring, but it wholly wants to present itself as a slice-of-life film. It just happens to feature various characters who are terrorized by an unseen horror that creeps up through an outside lens (in this case, the camera), thereby highlighting the technological aspect that was so prevalent in late 90s and early 00s J-horror. However, the film certainly takes its time with each of its characters as they go about their lives, and with how each one eventually succumbs to the horror of this ‘curse’ passed down to them. The process of getting there may be fairly mundane to some, with its incredibly meticulous pacing and seemingly meandering character beats, but it all fits with the complexity of its themes and the humanity that is tragically lost as the horror grows closer. 

 

Peril at Sea: Rescue at Dongji (2026) Review

Directors: Fei Zhenxiang, Guan Hu

Notable Cast: Zhu Yilong, Leo Wu, Ni Ni, Yang Haoyu, Chen Minghao, Ni Dahong, William Franklyn-Miller, Li Jiuxiao, Wang Yiquan, Kevin Lee

 

Living in the shadow of Hollywood, the big war story blockbuster is essentially its own genre. Although Chinese cinema handily receives the “jingoistic” label more often than not, let’s be up front and honest here - they learned how to do it from Hollywood. And judging from Rescue at Dongji, they’ve taken the classic war-film elements, given them a Chinese cinematic twist, and let them rip. Rescue at Dongji is a bombastic flick, layered with incredible performances, white-knuckle action, and a heartfelt narrative that speaks universally. While it certainly feels like it owes much of its success to lessons learned from previous films, it does so in a way that makes it feel fresh, and that’s ultimately what matters. 

 

Part of what makes Rescue at Dongji (sometimes noted as Dongji Rescue) so fresh is that it strikes a balance between the rousing heroics and the war's innate brutality, which these films so often miss. Its narrative is certainly centered on the village's heroics. The focus remains on two brothers, played by Zhu Yilong and Leo Wu - outcasts even on the island they were raised on, adopted by a local fishing family, and their relationship with each other and the life they live in the village. By focusing on them and then building the settings around them, the film moves from being just a historical action drama to a film about humanity. It’s an incredibly smart choice.

 

Fangs For Everything: Night Patrol (2026) Review

Director: Ryan Prows

Notable Cast: Jermaine Fowler, Justin Long, RJ Cyler, Nicki Micheaux, Freddie Gibbs, Phil Brooks, Dermot Mulroney, YG, Flying Lotus

 

Watching Night Patrol made me realize something. Boy, do I really miss Tales from the Crypt. Not just the show, but there was a time in the 90s when the HBO horror series made the leap to the silver screen for a couple of films. (Do we count that third Tales from the Crypt movie, Ritual, that no one saw?) Watching the strange concoction that is Night Patrol gave me the vibes of when I saw Demon Knight some decades ago. The offbeat humor, the bold swings in lore-building, the use of fantastic character actors, and the ambitiously deranged social commentary just give off big Tales from the Crypt vibes. And, quite frankly, I am 100% here for it. 

 

Night Patrol is the kind of independent horror that ought to find a very dedicated audience with time. Not only does it encapsulate the era of its release, particularly in how it portrays police violence and a distinct arm of the law that seemingly operates with no limitations, but it also does so by creating its own world that runs parallel to our own. Ryan Prows’ second feature-length effort is so oddly satisfying in the threading of its tones and themes that it immediately cements itself as a cult classic - brutally punchy in its efforts, but so incredibly watchable nonetheless. 

 

One Way Ticket: Ghost Train (2026) Review

Director: Tak Se-woong

Notable Cast: Joo Hyun-young, Jeon Bae-soo, Choi Bo-min, Kim Ji-in, Kim Woo-kyum, Jung Han-bit, Kim Na-yeon, Lim Cheol-soo, Hyun Bong-sik

 

When it comes to a horror anthology, it’s always a joy to see how the creative team can conjure a structure, balance the stories, and make it all pay off. If you get it right, find the tone and keep up the pace, even if one or two of the smaller stories don’t hit fully, the whole retains its strengths.

For Ghost Train, director Tak Se-woong goes all in on the urban myth of a haunted train station, delivering a handful of great ghost stories and a surprisingly solid wraparound that presents each tale in a shockingly fun, modern way. If anything, the film often comes off as less of an anthology, particularly in the latter half, and it plays with expectations in fun ways that deliver jump scares without ever pulling away from the character piece and themes at its core. Needless to say, Ghost Train is a spooky, conceptually fun way to kick off 2026 in horror. 

 

Being in the content creation industry for a larger company is not always easy, and for Da-kyung, played by Joo Hyun-young, her horror YouTube channel is in danger of being drowned out by all the beauty tip channels. However, her latest series, which is based on the hauntings around a particular train station, has caught the eye of a young producer at her company. She schedules an interview with one of the station's workers, an older gentleman who should have plenty of stories, and as he shares each, she finds herself delving deeper into the realm of the supernatural. 

 

Great Dragons Conceal Their Power: Blades of the Guardians (2026) Review

Director: Yuen Woo-Ping

Notable Cast: Wu Jing, Yu Shi, Chen Lijun, Nicholas Tse, Sun Yizhou, Ci Sha, Li Yunxiao, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Max Zhang, Jet Li, Zhang Yi, Kara Wei, Liu Yaowen, Xioung Jinyi

 

Considering the substantial cast and having an icon like Yuen Woo-Ping sitting in the director’s chair for this one, I could start this review out by stating things how Blades of the Guardians is an action fan’s dream come true or that Yuen Woo-Ping has delivered his best film in decades - both of which are true - but I think I want to start this off with a bit more heat. 

 

Thank you, Chinese streaming movies. 

 

Sure, Blades of the Guardians is the big title being released for Lunar New Year, and it’s probably going to slaughter in the international box office. It’s the kind of grandiose combination of spectacle, A-list names, and entertaining action cinema that will appease fans and newbies alike. And yet, as the film played out, using its dusty setting, well-choreographed action set pieces, and broad-stroke classic wuxia characters was not a reaction to the success of low-budget wuxia films on streaming sites like iQIYI. 

 

While the Chinese box office has been dominated by big CGI-focused fantasy-driven wuxia films over the last 10 to 20 years (which is fine for films like Creation of the Gods, but feels unwieldy and bloated for films like Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants), there was something of a counter movement in the streaming sector that pulled away from that. Smaller stories, big characters played by charismatic actors (often names from action films versus fantasy ones), and a focus on strong intimate action featuring plenty of stylish wire-work sword play. Films like Eye for an Eye, Blade of Fury, or Butcher’s Blade have reignited my own love of the gritty wuxia film. 

 

And, dare I say, Blades of the Guardians has far more in common with those films than it does with the fantasy-driven wuxia, and it’s better for it. Yuen Woo-Ping and his team pull away from the bloat that weighed down some of his previous wuxia efforts (particularly The Thousand Faces of Dunjia) and instead drive home a film about heroes, villains, justice, and a whole lot of sword-slashin'. The monsters here are people driven by power lust, not creatures from folklore, and the plotting has far more in common with Mad Max: Fury Road than with the Shakespearean politics of a film like Creation of the Gods. Blades of the Guardians is old-fashioned, brilliant action, slathered in modern spectacle and driven by heartfelt characters. And yes, I will argue that it’s one of Yuen Woo-Ping’s best films. Period. 

 

Dino Crisis: Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025)

Director: Gareth Edwards

Notable Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge, Bechir Sylvain, Ed Skrein

 

Truthfully, I could go on for ages about how fascinatingly bizarre and laden with misfires the Jurassic World series has been. The entire Jurassic Park franchise, now with seven entries, has been a roller coaster, with ups and downs that have been both thrilling and perplexing. It’s one of the reasons why I love franchises. Yet, I’m pretty sure all the best and worst choices around Jurassic World can be dissected by looking at how Universal approached Jurassic World: Rebirth, the latest entry into the dinosaur mayhem franchise. 

 

The previous film, Jurassic World: Dominion, was bloated, filled with too many ideas, too many characters, too much nostalgia, and a wild approach that felt like it was simply trying to be both a legacy sequel and take the series into a new era. It didn’t work. Like, at all. Thus, Jurassic World: Rebirth aims to reignite the franchise by continuing the series as a sequel while moving away from the issues that have plagued Dominion and Fallen Kingdom. It also doesn’t work. Like, at all.