The Fantastic Pavilion presents a weekly recap with the most relevant news about the world of genre cinema, plus our latest exclusives.
News
It’s been a busy week so far for Red Room Pictures, the production company founded by Mike Flanagan. It was confirmed that Flanagan’s latest Stephen King adaptation, The Life of Chuck (2024), has secured a spot at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), to be celebrated from September 5 to 15. On the other hand, Universal just set a release date for Flanagan’s upcoming entry in the franchise that began with The Exorcist (1973): March 13, 2026.
In 2026 we’ll also get a new film by Jordan Peele, as the director himself posted on X a picture with the date: October 23, 2026. This’ll be Peele’s fourth feature, after Get Out (2017), Us (2019) and Nope (2022).
After world premiering at Fantastic Fest 2023, JT Mollner’s serial killer film Strange Darling (2023) released its first trailer and official poster, in anticipation of its U.S. theatrical run starting August 23.
Speaking of trailers, Paramount Pictures unleashed the official teaser for the anticipated horror sequel Smile 2 (2024), which hits theaters on October 18.
Fantastic Pavilion’s exclusives
Our editor-in-chief Eric Ortiz speaks with Luxembourgian director Jacques Molitor about the werewolf coming-of-age movie Wolfkin (Kommunioun, 2022), which recently competed for the Latin American Critics’ Award for European Films, organized by European Film Promotion (EFP).
Festivals
The Sitges Film Festival informs that you can still apply for their 2024 Open Calls, which include:
WomanInFan’s Fantastic Residence
WomanInFan’s Fanlab Teaser-Short Film Creation Competition
The Lund Fantastic Film Festival reminds you that the regular deadline to submit films is July 7. The 30th edition of this Swedish genre festival will take place from October 25 to 31.
Home video
Vera Drew’s trans Joker parody, The People’s Joker (2022), is getting the physical media treatment on August 13, via Altered Innocence. The available formats are Blu-ray, DVD, and even VHS!
Scarecrow Video, the legendary and immense Seattle-based video rental store and physical media archive, needs our help. They are currently struggling to keep up as a nonprofit and published an open letter seeking donations.