By Eric Ortiz
The Fantastic Pavilion presents a weekly recap with the most relevant news about the world of genre cinema.
News
You can watch now the new – but very old-school – trailer for Dolly (2025), a “backwoods slasher” in the “great The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) tradition.” After screening at Sitges and Mórbido Fest last year, Dolly is heading to U.S. theaters on March 6.
Synopsis: “A young woman, Macy, fights for survival after being abducted by a deranged, monster-like figure who wants to raise Macy as their child. A daring blend of New French Extremity and 1970s American horror.”
S.S. Rajamouli’s epic Varanasi (2027) has gotten a worldwide release date: April 7, 2027. Varanasi was “inspired by Indian mythology, spanning thousands of years from ancient times to the modern era.”
Festivals
The Méliès International Festivals Federation (MIFF) shared the 2026 dates of the “first festivals of the circuit”: India’s Wench Film Festival (February 19-22 in Kolkata, February 26-March 1 in Mumbai), Belgium’s Offscreen Film Festival (March 11-29), Belgium’s Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (April 3-18), Brazil’s Fantaspoa (April 8-26), and Estonia’s Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival (April 30-May 2).
Bowels of Hell (Privadas de suas vidas, 2026), a Brazilian horror comedy about killer toilets (!), is celebrating its world premiere on February 4 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). Accordingly, Blue Finch Films has released its first teaser.
Synopsis: “Bowels Of Hell follows Malu, who is cracking due to the weight of past trauma and a rebellious child. When a strange curse turns toilets into deadly monsters, she is hurled into a surreal nightmare where motherhood, grief, and existential terror can’t simply be flushed away.”
Louis Paxton’s The Incomer (2026) – “a comedic inflection of Scottish island folklore,” featuring “fantastical creatures” – won the NEXT Innovator Award at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, which took place from January 22 to February 1.
Home video
Deathstalker (2025), the latest movie from director Steven Kostanski (Frankie Freako), is currently available for pre-order on limited edition Blu-ray. Deathstalker is a “remake of the cult classic 1983 sword and sorcery film.”