Panic Fest 2026: The Burning of Broken Beak (2026)

Director: Christian Carroll

Notable Cast: Briar Rose, Lydia Peckham, Katlyn Wong, Joel Tobeck, Jonny Brugh, Rob Kipa-Williams, Bruce Hopkins, Bala Murali Shingade, Beth Alexander, William Zhang

 

I’m a sucker for a good folk horror story. Throw in some kind of ancient legend, told in rhyme and shown with stylized animation, and put in a touch of body horror, and suddenly I’m doing a skip down the walk in anticipation of seeing it. For The Burning of Broken Beak, writer/director/editor/most everything under the sun Christian Carroll is aiming for something of a modern folk horror tale and he manages to conjure up something that feels like it owes its cornerstones to the folk horror of yesteryears, but manages to modernize in a way that feels relevant and potent for the last couple of years. While the film tends to play things slightly on the safe side with its horror elements until its final act, spending much of its runtime on a murder-mystery plot, it also packs an impactful amount of dynamite into its final act, putting it above and beyond some of its indie genre peers. And it certainly doesn’t feel bird-brained in the process. 

 

Its central character, Emma, played by Briar Rose, returns to New Zealand with her girlfriend from her life as a photographer in New York to attend the reading of her adopted uncle’s will after he is horrifically murdered. However, with a massive inheritance on the line, the family quickly comes into odds with one another. It’s too bad, though, because their squabbles have seemingly unleashed a curse upon the family of the old Māori legend of a human-sized bird who was slaughtered when she stood up against colonists. Now the family is being killed one by one, leaving Emma as the prime suspect. Visions of Broken Beak haunt her, and Emma must uncover whether the curse is real or if there’s more to her family than even she thought. 

 

Panic Fest 2026: Buffet Infinity (2026)

Director: Simon Glassman

Notable Cast: Kevin Singh, Claire Theobald, Donovan Workun

 

Much of modern storytelling, through whatever media you choose - whether it's book, TV, movie, or even the internet, is being built on nostalgia and meta-narratives. For many of us, remembering what something was like in the media from 20 or 30 years ago is ripe for analysis and exploitation. Releases like ‘legacy sequels’ or shows like Stranger Things aim to evoke nostalgia and meta commentary to sell their material. Remember how we felt about Star Wars? Or the old Steven Spielberg films? Remember when Rosanne was one of the best sitcoms on TV? Try out The Connors. You’ll feel the same. 

 

However, there’s a sect of artists out there who use these same tactics to weaponize those concepts against their viewers, creating intriguing slices of art. The Adult Swim segment Too Many Cooks used the opening credits of an early-90s sitcom to kick-start its own descent into unnerving territory. Watching that on my phone while riding on a train in the middle of the night certainly added to it, but there was a bold, artistic, and often satirical slant to it that left me unnerved. 

 

It’s been over a decade since I saw that segment, and this approach to undercutting nostalgic elements is only finding more footing. Take Buffet Infinity as the prime example of such. This instant cult classic uses local commercials as canvases to paint a narrative around the horrors of capitalism through a cosmic-horror lens. Yes, you read that right. Buffet Infinity is an entire film made of clips of fake commercials for small-town businesses, news segments, and infomercials. Yet, it’s incredibly poignant in its tone, sociopolitical commentary, and razor-sharp writing that it manages to be hilarious, sorrowful, and utterly terrifying - oftentimes within one moment. It’s fucking brilliant. 

 

Panic Fest 2026: Pitfall (2026) Review

Director: James Kondelik

Notable Cast: Alex Essoe, Marshall Williams, Richard Harmon, Jordan Claire Robbins, Matt Hamilton, Randy Couture

 

Within the first ten or fifteen minutes of Pitfall, there are literally three instances of deer being killed. Now, granted, one of them is in a hallucinatory state for one of its lead characters, but it certainly set the stage for how I was going to watch this film.  Cause that’s certainly a silly choice, and I kind of appreciate it cause it does set the stage for what one can expect from the two-tone approach that Pitfall is using as its concept. 

 

Despite perhaps hitting the hammer on the head about the film’s ‘nature can be dangerous’ themes that are layered into the two genres that it's mish-mashing together - the survival film and the slasher, Pitfall is certainly a film that has a lot more going for it in the undertones than what I expected. This is the two-tone approach that director James Kondelik is aiming for with this film.  

 

Get Cooked: Hellfire (2026) Review

Director: Isaac Florentine

Cast: Stephen Lang, Scottie Thompson, Chris Mullinax, Johnny Yong Bosch, Dolph Lundgren, Michael Sirow, Harvey Keitel

 

Back in the late 00s and the early 10s, if you wanted to find great old school action, you would scan the internet for Isaac Florentine. His ‘straight-to-video’ (a term that essentially doesn’t exist thanks to streaming now) affairs were some of the best you could find. His work with classic icons like Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme was fun, and his partnership with Scott Adkins defined that era for incredible action. I’d still argue that Ninja: Shadow of a Tear is one of the greatest action films ever made, and I will absolutely fight you if you disagree.

 

However, Florentine’s career has been much rockier lately. Some of this is due to trying some new styles, working in slightly different genres, or partnering with different stars, but it felt like some of the shine was being dulled. It culminated in Hounds of War, an ultimately droll affair with Frank Grillo on autopilot and horrendous editing and action design that felt completely out of sync with what one expects from a Florentine flick.

 

Thus, my expectations for Hellfire were relatively muted. Sure, it has a hell of a cast, including Stephan Lang as the special ops veteran caught in the criminal web of a small town, but even that was not necessarily as exciting as I hoped for. Yet, while Hellfire certainly struggles to find some of its voice in the first 45 minutes and really loves to hammer down on those straight-to-VOD action tropes, it is something of a bounce back for Florentine. Its foundations are solid, the main performances - even if tropey - feel engaged, and the back end of the film really starts rollicking once tensions of its generic script finally pop. By the end, I was totally engulfed by the fun and surprising moments that Hellfire was delivering. Enough so that there’s a part of me that hopes Florentine has found his new franchise in the wandering warrior that Stephan Lang is bringing to the table.