Resident Evil (2026) | REVIEW

Austin Abrams behind the steering wheel while being bothered by an infected individual in RESIDENT EVIL — PHOTO: Sony Pictures Releasing / TriStar Pictures.

Directed by Zach Cregger (Barbarian; Weapons) — Screenplay by Zach Cregger and Shay Hatten.

The Resident Evil franchise is one of horror gaming’s most popular, and yet it has struggled to find the same critical success on the big screen that it has reached through multiple video games. The Paul W. S. Anderson-shepherded films starring Milla Jovovich made money, but none of the six Jovovich-led films resonated with critics or audiences. Johannes Roberts’ Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City from 2021 was meant as a more faithful adaptation of the early Resident Evil games, but still, audiences and critics were left underwhelmed. Now Zach Cregger is giving it a go, following his critically lauded horror-thriller films Barbarian and Weapons. The on-the-rise horror filmmaker with a keen understanding of how to plant comedic beats in even the darkest storylines has opted for a different strategy than Roberts. Cregger has deliberately decided that he would not slavishly recreate the story of the games. However, he has nonetheless managed to honor the games in his own way while, at the same time, turning in a genuinely thrilling film.

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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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Top 26 Most Anticipated Movies of 2026

Original Photo: Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides in Dune: Part Two (Warner Bros.).

Here are my picks for the most anticipated upcoming movies of 2026, ranked by my own personal anticipation rather than any other metric like box office or hype. Normally, I’d go with 25 selections, but because it’s 2026, I decided to go with just one additional selection. But, frankly, this could’ve easily been a top 40 list. If you’re at all interested in a longer list, then check the honorable mentions at the bottom of the list, or click here for my Letterboxd list that contains quite a few more films. But, yeah, let’s get to it!

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Weapons (2025) | REVIEW

One of the vanishing kids running down the street in Zach Cregger’s Weapons — PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Zach Cregger — Screenplay by Zach Cregger.

Whenever an up-and-coming new filmmaker, whose previous film had the makings of a bona fide genre classic, is about to turn in his latest film, you pay attention. You especially pay attention when the filmmaker’s script for his new picture was so highly regarded in the American film industry that it not only launched a bidding war but also, reportedly, got a modern horror master to fire his manager over their failed attempt at securing the distribution rights to it. Such is the case with Barbarian writer-director Zach Cregger and his latest film, Weapons, a multi-perspective horror-thriller with drama and comedy elements that had a memorable and fantastic marketing campaign built around it, and which also, thankfully, turns out to be exactly the kind of must-see thriller epic that I’ve been craving.

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REVIEW: Barbarian (2022)

Bill Skarsgård as the mysterious ‘Keith’ in BARBARIAN — PHOTO: 20th Century Studios.

Direction and Screenplay by Zach Cregger.

Zach Cregger’s Barbarian, one of the most entertaining surprise hits of the year, follows Tess Marshall (played by Georgina Campbell), as she arrives at a remote house that she has booked, only to find out that someone else, Keith (played by Bill Skarsgård), is already staying there due to the house having been double-booked. When Tess finds out that there isn’t really an open motel close by, she has to decide if she feels comfortable staying at the house with this total stranger. What she doesn’t know is that the house isn’t exactly what it seems.

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