The Fantastic Pavilion presents a weekly recap with the most relevant news about the world of genre cinema.
News
Netflix released the official teaser for the Japanese action thriller Bullet Train Explosion (2025). Directed by Shinji Higuchi (Shin Godzilla), Bullet Train Explosion is a remake of The Bullet Train (Shinkansen daibakuha, 1975), which has been compared to the Hollywood classic Speed (1994).
Bullet Train Explosion will be available to stream on Netflix from April 23. Here’s its official synopsis: “An urgent phone call comes in to the bullet train general control center. The caller says that a bomb has been planted on the Hayabusa No. 60 bullet train heading toward Tokyo, and that it will explode as soon as its speed goes below 100 kilometers per hour. The criminal demands 100 billion yen in exchange for deactivating the bomb, forcing the railway workers into a desperate race against time as they struggle to prevent an explosion. Will the Hayabusa No. 60 be able to avert this disaster as it hurtles down the tracks?”
IndieWire debuted the first teaser for Mermaid (2025), the new movie from Tyler Cornack, director of the absolutely bonkers Butt Boy (2019). Mermaid will celebrate its world premiere on March 8 at SXSW.
Synopsis: “A Percocet-addicted ‘Florida Man’ finds a wounded mermaid at his lowest point. Fascination becomes a drug infused, one sided relationship, sending him further into decline. When word spreads about his secret, he’ll stop at nothing to protect her.”
Sajeed A’s supernatural thriller Vadakkan (2025) – one of the seven gala screenings presented last year by the Fantastic Pavilion in Cannes – opens theatrically in India this Friday (March 7). The movie follows a paranormal investigator who has to “face a sinister spirit.” Watch here its trailer.
Festivals
The Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF) revealed the first wave of titles for their 43rd edition (April 8-20). Christopher Landon’s thriller Drop (2025) will be the opening film at the festival. This first wave also includes Lorcan Finnegan’s The Surfer (2024) – starring Nicolas Cage –, Grace Glowicki’s Dead Lover (2025), Jea Min Shin’s Commission (2025), and Anouar Moatassim’s Atoman (2025) – labeled as “the very first Arab superhero movie” –.
The HARD:LINE Film Festival also announced their first wave of 2025 films: Evan Marlowe’s Abruptio (2023), Can Evrenol’s Sayara (2024), Kim Jae-hoon’s Devils (Akmadeul, 2023), and Michael Stasko’s Vampire Zombies… From Space! (2024). The 12th HARD:LINE is set to take place from April 10 to 13, in Regensburg, Germany.
Panic Fest revealed its 2025 lineup, via Fangoria. Highlights from the program include David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds (2024), Alexandre O. Philippe’s documentary Chain Reactions (2024), Aislinn Clarke’s Fréwaka (2024), Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk’s Hell of a Summer (2023), Dead Lover, and Emilie Blichfeldt’s The Ugly Stepsister (Den stygge stesøsteren, 2025). The 13th edition of Panic Fest is happening in Kansas City, from March 27 to April 2.
Home video
Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s Steppenwolf (Dala qasqiri, 2024) screened at several prestigious genre festivals last year – such as Fantastic Fest and Sitges – and is now heading to Blu-ray on May 27, thanks to Arrow Video. It’s worth noting that the disc will also feature Goliath (Goliaf, 2022), another movie directed by Yerzhanov.