A Prayer for the Dying (2026) | Fantastic Fest 2026 | REVIEW

John C. Reilly and Johnny Flynn in Dara Van Dusen’s A PRAYER FOR THE DYING. Image provided by Fantastic Fest. Courtesy of Quiver Distribution.

Directed by Dara Van Dusen – Screenplay by Dara Van Dusen.

Following its world premiere at this year’s Berlinale, the western-adjacent drama, A Prayer for the Dying, from debut feature filmmaker Dara Van Dusen, just had its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest 2026. As part of my remote coverage of the latter festival, I got the opportunity to watch this ambitious debut. Dusen’s Western-adjacent debut, which is being prepared for a post-festival US theatrical release on October 9th, contains fascinating surreal imagery, pitch-black dark character predicaments, and a challenging role for its competent leading man. Although it has some blemishes, I thought it was mostly quite effective.

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Fantastic Fest 2026 | Preview

Festival logo — Image provided by Fantastic Fest.

Later this month — from September 17th to September 24th — the 21st edition of Fantastic Fest takes place at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, TX. Over the years, the beloved film festival all about genre film has featured world premieres of such films as There Will Be Blood, Zombieland, and Apostle, as well as the U.S. premiere of Obsession, which now, just a year later, has taken the world by storm following its theatrical release. Now, while I won’t be in Austin, I have been approved for remote coverage of the festival. Thus, I plan to post standalone reviews of select films over the course of the week of the festival, which I am very much looking forward to.

In this preview, I’ll highlight some of the major premieres, screenings, and titles. But this article also dives deeper into Fantastic Fest‘s fascinating line-up, as I have prepared a list of ten films that have caught my eye based on intriguing loglines, the creative team involved, or, in certain cases, the cast that appears in the film. Although it is unlikely that I’ll get to see all of them during my remote coverage, these are some of the films that I think you should seek out if you are going to be in Austin, TX this month.

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