Movies
SXSW 2025 Preview: 10 Can’t Miss Genre Premieres and Events
There’s no question that SXSW has outdone itself this year in terms of genre programming. The festival is kicking off its 31st year this Thursday in Austin, Texas, unleashing a dizzying slate of premieres and events, with a surprising emphasis on horror, sci-fi, and thrillers.
SXSW 2025 has filled its Headliner section, a programming track dedicated to the biggest gala film events and premieres with star power, with highly anticipated genre titles that include Flying Lotus‘s sci-fi horror movie Ash, Christopher Landon‘s ode to Brian De Palma in upcoming thriller Drop, and A24’s nightmare comedy Death of a Unicorn. But there’s so much more to discover beyond the big red carpet premieres. Not even the Midnighter category, which is dedicated to genre film, can contain the sheer volume of offerings.
This year’s SXSW features horror, thrillers, and sci-fi premieres across all categories, ensuring a robust lineup that’s so packed it might be a bit too easy to miss some gems. Here are eight films and two activations to put on your radar for SXSW and the year ahead.
Clown in a Cornfield
Tucker & Dale vs. Evil director Eli Craig helms this R-rated adaptation of the Bram Stoker Award-winning horror novel by Adam Cesare. That magical sentence should likely be enough to catch your attention, but, if not, perhaps the red band trailer might? Frendo the Clown feels poised to become a memorable new slasher villain. The Clown in a Cornfield movie is said to be a “harrowing, savage, heart-pounding adaptation,” with director Eli Craig recently promising “an insanely fun, action, horror, comedy.” You had us at “Clown in a Cornfield.”
Good Boy
Sometimes all you need to reinvigoate a familiar horror premise or subgenre is a fresh perspective, and Good Boy might offer the haunted house horror movie its most inventive take yet. Writer/Director Ben Leonberg makes his feature debut with a haunted house film set entirely from the perspective of man’s best friend. For those who have ever wondered if there’s something there when your pet barks strangely at empty corners in your home, this is for you. Bonus: the cast includes indie horror stalwart Larry Fessenden.
Hallow Road
Photo credit: Julie Vrabelova
Director Babak Anvari established a knack for chilling atmospherics with feature debut Under the Shadow, followed by the surreal Wounds. The filmmaker’s latest stars Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys as parents who receive a late night phone call from their daughter after she’s caused a tragic accident. An intense race against the clock ensues against an unsettling, lonely stretch of road in the middle of the night. That talent attached alone should put this on your radar.
It Ends
Four friends gather for a final hoorah before parting ways after graduating college only to find themselves instead trapped on a never-ending backroad. Writer/Director/Editor Alexander Ullom’s feature debut dabbles in a few genres, starting with intense thriller that gives way to something far more introspective and meditative. A spiritual cousin of sorts to the time-honored time loop thriller, It Ends‘ innovative approach and innovative journey should be one worth seeking out.
Odyssey
The latest from director Gerard Johnson follows a a coke-fueled London estate agent who hides her crumbling life behind an air of opulence. She gets dragged into the city’s seedy underworld when she’s pulled into a kidnapping plot of a fellow real estate agent. It’s the type of premise that reads more gritty crime thriller than genre, but rest assured that Johnson brings the goods once the simmering tension reaches critical mass in a way that’s loosely reminiscent of Bull.
O’Dessa
“Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink stars as O’Dessa, a farm girl on an epic quest to recover a cherished family heirloom that leads her to a dangerous city. There’s really only four key words here that sums up this upcoming Hulu release and earns its spot on this list: post-apocalyptic rock opera. If you need more, check out the eye-catching, earworm trailer here.
The Surrender
The premise for writer/director Julia Max‘s feature debut reads like an alluring cross betweein A Dark Song and Relic, in which a grieving mother and daughter risk their lives to perform a brutal resurrection ritual that will bring the recently deceased family patriarch back from the dead. With SFX artists Sierra Russell and Josh Russell handling the makeup effects, it’s safe to assume a gnarly ride ahead. If that’s not intriguing enough, “The Boys” actor Colby Minifie and “Grey’s Anatomy” actor Kate Burton star as the mother and daughter coping with grief and a fraught relationship.
The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick
Zoë Chao stars as a woman descending into paranoia after she’s bitten by a tick on vacation in her friend’s idyllic countryside home. The paranoia isn’t exactly unwarranted; the tick bite causes bizarre symptoms and shatters the illusion of the quaint setting. The film is described as a “millennial terror of modern adulthood,” and hails from director Pete Ohs, who helmed supernatural stalker comedy Jethica.
Activation – FX’s Alien: Earth makes impact at SXSW
FX is launching a series of immersive experiences ahead of the highly anticipated premiere of “Alien: Earth” beginning with this SXSW activation that places attendees in the wreckage of a Weyland-Yutani ship. About the immersive experience: “From the moment fans step inside, they will find interactive elements and pulse-pounding thrills that bring the series to life. Visitors will be scanned for alien parasites before receiving credentials and instructions, embarking them on an exploratory mission through the ship wreckage, where they will have the chance to get up close and personal with alien specimens. But beware—not all creatures survived the crash intact, a containment breach has occurred and hidden dangers lurk within.” Details can be found here.
Activation – Paramount+ The Lodge
Paramount+’s ‘The Lodge’ is back at the fest for its third year to deliver the ultimate fan experience, offering “an unforgettable and immersive journey that lets guests engage with hit content, iconic franchises and beloved characters.” This ski-lodge-inspired activation will let attendees step into the world of “Yellowjackets,” “Dexter: Original Sin,” “School Spirits” and much more. The Lodge runs from March 7-10, and details can be found here.
This is only a fraction of the genre offerings taking place at SXSW. Stay tuned for our coverage.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Kraus took the literary world by storm back in 2023 with the release of his hit novel Whalefall. A terrifying yet intimate survival thriller with mythological undertones, the book was almost immediately bombarded with offers from movie studios wanting to adapt its claustrophobic imagery to the big screen.
Fast forward to June of 2026, and we finally got our first glimpse at Brian Duffield’s long-awaited adaptation of Whalefall, starring Austin Abrams as our unfortunate lead who gets swallowed alive by a sperm whale. While this two-and-a-half-minute teaser only covers the beginning of the story, it’s already been making waves online (and in-person at select 4DX promotional screenings) as one of the most stressful cinematic experiences of the year.
In fact, my own wife had to cover her eyes and exclaim, “You’re definitely not dragging me to watch this one” when we saw the whale’s jaws begin to close in on Abrams, with this incident alone already leaving me convinced that this will likely be one of the biggest genre hits of the year. With that in mind, I’d like to invite you to take a closer look at the teaser in order to break down interesting details and get a better idea of what’s in store for genre fans when the movie finally comes out this October.
Of course, as usual, don’t forget to comment below if you noticed something we didn’t!
Now, without further ado, here are five things we learned from the Whalefall trailer!
5. Austin Abrams Performed Many of His Own Stunts
Much like in his previous film, No One Will Save You, Duffield insisted that this visceral experience should be grounded by our main character’s believable reactions, regardless of the plot’s effects-heavy setup. That’s why the camera always makes sure to linger on Abrams through his diving mask, so we know that it’s really him going through this ordeal alongside the audience.
While plenty of CGI was used in order to bring this larger-than-life story to the big screen without killing our leading man, Abrams apparently insisted on performing many of his underwater stunts himself (several of which are visible in the trailer) – much to the chagrin of a worried Duffield and the flick’s stunt coordinator, Shauna Duggins.
4. The Film Seamlessly Transitions Between the California Coast and Underwater Sets
Duffield obviously wasn’t about to drag his crew out to the middle of the ocean and shoot inside a real sperm whale, but it’s reassuring to see the filmmaker blend on-location footage with the underwater tank segments and the literal belly of the whale set.
There may be plenty of CGI stitching these elements together, but the trailer shows us that only the truly impossible shots are completely digital, meaning that the filmmakers didn’t take the easy way out when it came to adapting this unique story.
3. The Whale is Only Part of the Story
Book adaptations tend to leave out inner monologues and the occasional flashback in order to streamline the narrative (which is one reason why it’s so difficult to translate Stephen King novels to the big screen), but a claustrophobic parable like Kraus’ Whalefall would get a bit dull after a while if the whole thing was entirely set within the creature’s stomach.
That’s why it’s such a relief that the trailer hints at how Duffield will also be adapting many of the book’s introspective moments chronicling our protagonist’s harsh upbringing under his troubled father. Not only do these inclusions give the audience some much-appreciated breathing room, but they also give Josh Brolin a chance to shine as a truly complicated character.
2. The Movie is Keeping the Book’s Scientific Accuracy…
While Kraus’ novel was inspired by a viral video of kayakers nearly being swallowed by a humpback whale, the writer ended up consulting with marine biologists about exactly what kind of situation might lead to a whale actually eating a human being alive.
The answer was surprisingly specific, as cetaceans are almost universally known to be friendly towards humans. However, even a gentle giant can make mistakes, and as we see in the trailer, Abrams’ unpleasant fate is more of an accident than anything else – with the massive sperm whale only trapping the poor diver in the first (and thankfully acid-free) chamber of its stomach due to a mix-up involving a giant squid.
Fortunately for the film’s special effects artists, they can now reference the first-ever footage of a real-life sperm whale chowing down on one such squid, as this freaky recording was released late last year.
1. …With a Catch!
Duffield may be doing his best to recreate the grounded (or is it submerged?) thrills of Kraus’ novel, but there are limits to what can be depicted onscreen while still guaranteeing an entertaining movie. That’s why it’s no surprise that Whalefall will take advantage of certain cinematic parlor tricks as the director tests the limits of both physics and biology so we can actually watch his movie.
For starters, the innards of the whale itself have been greatly exaggerated so there’s enough space to make out the action, and in the spirit of movies like Neil Marshall’s The Descent, there also seems to be plenty of non-diegetic lighting meant to show us what’s going on even if Abram’s character wouldn’t necessarily be able to see anything.
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