By Eric Ortiz
The Fantastic Pavilion presents a Weekly Recap with the most relevant news about the world of genre cinema.
News
Focus Features unleashed the first trailer for Robert Eggers’ Werwulf (2026), arguably the most anticipated horror picture for the rest of the year. Werwulf stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as a cursed family man and promises to be “Eggers’ most visceral and haunting experience yet… a harrowing tale of devotion, damnation and the devil within.” It opens theatrically in the U.S. on December 25, in Mexico on December 31, and in the UK on January 1.
Another horror trailer to check out this week is the one for Colony (Gunche, 2026), Yeon Sang-ho’s new infected people movie. After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, as one of the Midnight Screenings, Colony is heading to U.S. cinemas on August 28, thanks to Well Go USA Entertainment.
Synopsis: “Professor Se-jeong is thrust into a bloody nightmare when a rapidly mutating virus is released during a biotech conference causing authorities to seal the facility. Trapped inside with no escape, Se-jeong along with a small group of survivors must fight to stay alive while the infected undergo horrific transformations.”
NEON Rated shared the poster and trailer for Her Private Hell (2026), ahead of its U.S. theatrical release on July 24. Nicolas Winding Refn’s first flick in a decade follows “a troubled young woman” who “searches for her father – when a mysterious mist engulfs a futuristic metropolis, unleashing a deadly and elusive entity –. Her quest collides with an American GI on a harrowing odyssey to rescue his daughter from Hell.”
As we reported last week, Hanna Bergholm’s Nightborn (Yön Lapsi, 2026) hits Shudder on July 31. And so the horror streaming platform dropped its trailer, which makes it look like a striking creature feature about motherhood.
Festivals
Submissions are now open for the 2026 Mórbido Fest, set to take place in Mexico City from October 29 to November 8 – with additional screenings in San José, Costa Rica, and Santiago, Chile –. The deadline to submit your genre feature, short or vertical piece via FilmFreeway is October 10.
Nicolas Winding Refn will receive the Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award at the upcoming Fantasia International Film Festival (July 16-August 2, in Montreal, Canada). Refn’s Her Private Hell has joined the festival’s selection as the opening film. Other additions to Fantasia’s 2026 program are Buddy (2026), Sicko (Auru, 2025), The Fox (2025), and the aforementioned Colony.