The Fantastic Pavilion presents a weekly recap with the most relevant news about the world of genre cinema.
News
Gareth Evans’ new crime actioner Havoc (2025) got a pretty exciting teaser, featuring Tom Hardy, Jessie Mei Li, Forest Whitaker and Timothy Olyphant – plus a song by Fontaines D.C. (“Starburster”) –. Havoc starts streaming on Netflix on April 25.
Official synopsis: “After a drug deal gone wrong, a bruised detective (Hardy) must fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son, while unravelling a deep web of corruption and conspiracy that ensnares his entire city.”
Clown in a Cornfield (2025) is a slasher about a killer clown named Frendo. RLJE Films and Shudder released its first teaser trailer, ahead of its world premiere at SXSW (scheduled for March 10). Clown in a Cornfield – which was directed by Eli Craig, based on the novel by Adam Cesare – will open in U.S. theaters on May 9.
Synopsis: “Quinn and her father have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time. Welcome to Kettle Springs. The real fun starts when Frendo the clown comes out to play.”
James Ashcroft’s horror film The Rule of Jenny Pen (2024) has a brand new trailer, in which we can see both Geoffrey Rush and John Lithgow in action, as well as the titular creepy doll. As we reported before, The Rule of Jenny Pen hits the big screen on March 7 (via IFC Films and Shudder).
Official synopsis: “Arrogant Judge Stefan Mortensen (Rush) suffers a near-fatal stroke, leaving him partially paralyzed and confined to a retirement home. Resistant to the staff and distant from his friendly roommate, Mortensen soon clashes with seemingly gentle resident Dave Crealy (Lithgow) who secretly terrorizes the home with a sadistic game called The Rule of Jenny Pen while wielding his dementia doll as an instrument of cruelty. What begins as childish torment quickly escalates into far more sinister and disturbing incidents. When Mortensen’s pleas to the staff go unanswered, he takes it upon himself to put an end to Crealy’s reign of terror.”
The second trailer for A24’s Death of a Unicorn (2025) offers a better glimpse of one of the horned creatures. This fantasy movie is set to debut at SXSW (on March 8), before heading to U.S. cinemas on March 28. It stars Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, and Richard E. Grant.
The Avenue presented the official poster for Locked (2025), the Sam Raimi-produced horror thriller about a thief (Bill Skarsgård) who ends up trapped inside the luxury vehicle of a “self-proclaimed vigilante delivering his own brand of twisted justice” (Anthony Hopkins). Locked opens in U.S. theaters on March 21.
Shal Ngo’s Control Freak (2025) follows a “motivational speaker” who is “tormented by an unrelenting itch on the back of her head,” something that “leads into a terrifying journey as she battles a parasitic demon.” This horror flick will be available to stream on Hulu from March 13. Outside of the U.S., it’ll stream on Disney+ at a later date. Watch here its trailer.
Festivals
Fantaspoa shared the first details of their 2025 edition, taking place in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from April 9 to 27. The poster for the 21st Fantaspoa was designed by Elizabeth E. Schuch, who took inspiration from the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975).