The Fantastic Pavilion presents a weekly recap with the most relevant news about the world of genre cinema.
News
Weapons (2025) – Zach Cregger’s first directorial effort since Barbarian (2022) – got an intriguing teaser, as well as a website with more information about the mystery at the center of the movie: the disappearance of 17 children in the town of Maybrook. Weapons lands in theaters on August 8.
The first teaser for Justin Tipping’s HIM (2025) makes it look like an intense horror thriller built around the world of football. The flick was produced by Jordan Peele and will reach cinemas on September 19.
Synopsis: “HIM stars former college wide-receiver Tyriq Withers as Cameron Cade, a rising-star quarterback who has devoted his life, and identity, to football. On the eve of professional football’s annual scouting Combine, Cam is attacked by an unhinged fan and suffers a potentially career-ending brain trauma.
“Just when all seems lost, Cam receives a lifeline when his hero, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), a legendary eight-time Championship quarterback and cultural megastar, offers to train Cam at Isaiah’s isolated compound that he shares with his celebrity influencer wife, Elsie White (Julia Fox). But as Cam’s training accelerates, Isaiah’s charisma begins to curdle into something darker, sending his protégé down a disorienting rabbit hole that may cost him more than he ever bargained for.”
Sony Pictures released a new trailer for 28 Years Later (2025), the highly anticipated third entry in the sci-fi horror franchise that started out with 28 Days Later (2002). 28 Years Later is notable for reuniting director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland. It’ll hit theaters on June 20.
Official synopsis: “It’s been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, and now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.”
Director Lexi Alexander, who’s best known for Green Street Hooligans (2005) and Punisher: War Zone (2008), is back with the actioner Absolute Dominion (2025), in which a martial arts tournament is set to determinate which religion dominates the world. However, the main fighter (played by Désiré Mia) actually represents the “Institute of Humanism and Science” (as depicted in the trailer). Absolute Dominion will be available in cinemas and on digital in the U.S. from May 9.
Full synopsis: “In the year 2063 AD, the world faces catastrophe as zealots and extremists wage a global holy war, crumbling cities and dismantling entire countries in the name of spiritual superiority. Desperate for a solution to save humanity from itself, the world’s governing bodies vote to establish a radical new form of diplomacy called The Battle of Absolute Dominion, a fierce martial arts tournament featuring the best fighters in the world to determine a champion whose faith will govern humanity and restore peace for the future.”
Festivals
Variety published an article about our upcoming third edition, which will certainly take place within the Marché du Film (May 13-21 in Cannes). The initiative Fantastic Focus is set to be launched, with Mexico as the first spotlight country. The Fantastic Round Robin, the IP Remake Showcase, and six Fantastic Galas will be some of our other activities.
The lineup for the 2025 edition of Fantastic 7 – Sitges and Marché du Film’s annual showcase – has been revealed. On May 18, at Palais K (Palais des Festivals) in Cannes, the following genre projects will be presented to “potential business partners”:
1999 (David Casademunt)
“What if one day you discovered that you had an exorcism performed on you as a child? This is what happens to Abel, a Barcelona native who seeks the truth about the supposed possession he experienced at the age of four, plunging into a spiral of paranoia and madness.”
Endorsed by Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.
Sisterhood (Yoon Eunkyoung)
“A young woman enters the lives of a mystery novelist and her daughter, who have moved to a house after a divorce, causing a subtle rift in the mother-daughter relationship.”
Endorsed by Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival.
Evil Eye (Yasir Kareem)
“In the near future, Dunia must find a mystical island to break a curse drying Iraq’s rivers. Torn between love and duty, she must choose: save her beloved or restore life to the land.”
Endorsed by Cairo International Film Festival.
Cachorra (Elisa Puerto Aubel)
“A veterinarian in Mexicali bonds with a mysterious wolf pup, only to uncover a secret border experiment that puts them both in danger. To survive, she must embrace her wild nature.”
Endorsed by Guadalajara International Film Festival.
Fuxi: Joy in Four Chapters (Qiu Jiongjiong)
“Inside a circus tent, a ragtag film crew is busy shooting a film of four Sichuan bizarre tales. Spanning four millennia, and told through the chronicles of four celebrations, it invites us to feast with the living, the dying, the dead, and the long dead.”
Endorsed by Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF).
Mistletoe (Emily Hagins)
“Kissing under the mistletoe should be a warm Christmas tradition, but for awkward teen Kim and her friends, this holiday ritual turns deadly when they discover a mistletoe-inhabited demon is feeding off of their hormone-driven anxieties.”
Endorsed by SXSW Film & TV Festival.
The Last Moon (Sean McConville)
“Around ten teenagers live in a world where anyone can be whoever they want and create any story they wish. Amidst the pitch-black night of Lisan City, Alstroemeria Forest, and Ashua Island, their imagined stories flow through myriad choices, seeking out faint glimmers of light.”
Endorsed by Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
The Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFFF) announced its 2025 award winners. Soi Cheang’s action drama Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024) got the Golden Raven, while Mattias J Skoglund’s The Home (Hemmet, 2025) earned the prestigious Méliès d’argent. Other winners were Babak Anvari’s Hallow Road (Critics Award) and Emilie Blichfeldt’s The Ugly Stepsister (Audience Award).