The Fantastic Pavilion presents a weekly recap with the most relevant news about the world of genre cinema.
News
You can watch now the first teaser for Varanasi (2027), S.S. Rajamouli’s highly anticipated new epic, starring Mahesh Babu. Filmed for IMAX, Varanasi was “inspired by Indian mythology, spanning thousands of years from ancient times to the modern era.”
A fresh still from Eli Roth’s horror movie Ice Cream Man (2026) was unveiled via Variety. The image shows Ari Millen as the titular villain, who “serves kids sweet delights with horrifying results.” Ice Cream Man will feature music by Snoop Dogg and is set to hit theaters in 2026.
Ventana Sur revealed their 2025 VS Fantastic! Screenings: Lucila Las Heras’ The Muglur (Mexico, Argentina), Cristian Ponce’s Familia teme enfrentar una nueva noche de terror (Argentina), Jorge Olguín’s Kalkutún, juicio a los brujos (Chile), Michael Kovich Jr.’s La sombra (Paraguay, Spain), and Gonzalo Calzada’s La trenza (Argentina, Spain). The screenings are taking place from December 1 to 4, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Festivals
The found footage horror flick Dream Eater (2025) won the Gold Skull (Global) at the 2025 Mórbido Fest. Severin Films’ documentary Theatre of Horrors: The Sordid Story of Paris’ Grand Guignol (2025) earned the Morbidocs Award, while the Japanese stop-motion animated film Junk World (2025) got the AniMa Award. Additionally, Gustavo Hernández’s El susurro (2025) – which tackles snuff films – took home the Gold Skull (LATAM).
Everything is ready for the 26th edition of the Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre (BARS) festival (November 20-30). Some highlights of the program are: Hur Bum-wook’s Pig That Survived Foot-And-Mouth Disease (2024), Julia Ducournau’s Alpha (2025), Grégory Morin’s Flush (2025), Tina Romero’s Queens of the Dead (2025), and Natasha Kermani’s Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story (2025).
Home video
Severin Films announced that, as part of their upcoming Black Friday Sale (November 28), Mario Bava’s violent picture A Bay of Blood (Ecologia del delitto, 1971) is finally heading to 4K UHD. The five-disc box set includes three versions of the giallo, as well as the soundtrack on CD.