By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Lots of scares, violent action and a couple of intriguing documentaries are in the lineup.
The second batch of films playing the 10th-anniversary addition of the Overlook Film Festival has been unveiled. The event runs Thursday, Sunday, April 9-12 at New Orleans’ Prytania Theaters, and will showcase 36 features (including a Side Show selection of genre-adjacent titles) and 26 shorts, along with immersive events, presentations and parties. Joining the movies previously announced here are:
New Feature Film Presentations
International Titles Presented by MUBI
AFFECTION
Director: BT Meza
Cast: Jessica Rothe, Joseph Cross, Julianna Layne
United States, 2025
Ellie wakes up after a brutal car accident, discovering that she has a rare condition that frequently resets her memory. As she tries to assimilate back into life with her husband and daughter in their secluded home, she starts to get the unsettling feeling that not everything is what it seems.
AMERICAN DOLLHOUSE (pictured above)
Director: John Valley
Cast: Hailley Laurén, Kelsey Pribilski, Tinus Seaux, Danielle Evon Ploeger, Richard C. Jones
United States, 2025
After inheriting her childhood home, an unsuspecting woman becomes the object of her psychotic neighbor’s obsession, spiraling her down a violent path of stalking and possession that can only lead her to an extremely bloody Christmas.
BUDDY
Director: Casper Kelly
Cast: Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Topher Grace, Keegan-Michael Key, Michael Shannon, Patton Oswalt
United States, 2026
From the unique and twisted mind of iconic writer-director Casper Kelly (TOO MANY COOKS, YULE LOG) comes the tale of a courageous girl and her friends who must fight to escape the sinister clutches of a kid’s television show.
BUFFET INFINITY
Director: Simon Glassman
Cast: Kevin Singh, Ahmed Ahmed, Brandon Vanderwall
Canada, 2026
Told entirely through a series of fake commercials, Simon Glassman’s cutting-edge creepshow is the story of rival restaurants competing through local TV marketing for their town’s business…and maybe more. What is going on in Westridge County?
CAPTURING BIGFOOT
Director: Marq Evans
Cast: Clint Patterson, Bob Gimlin, Bob Heironimus, Larry Lund, Greg Long, Vaile Thompson, Sandy Collier, Bill Munns
United States, 2026
On October 20, 1967, Roger Patterson captured 59 seconds of film showing a creature walking through the Northern California woods—footage that became the most analyzed and debated in history. Fifty-seven years later, a reel of 16mm film discovered in a safe changes everything.
CRAMPS! A PERIOD PIECE
Local Spotlight
Director: Brooke H. Cellars
Cast: Lauren Kitchen, Vincent Stalba, Jared Bankens, Martini Bear, P*$$y D’lish, Wicken Taylor
United States, 2025
In a fanciful Technicolor town full of dueling beauty shops, drag queens and mid-century flair, a young woman’s quest to defy her family is upended when her menstrual cramps manifest themselves as actual monsters. At once gory and campy, Overlook alum (and previous Grand Jury Prize winner) Brooke H. Cellars makes their feature debut with a film that’s as fun as it is horrific.
FLUSH
Director: Grégory Morin
Cast: Jonathan Lambert, Élodie Navarre, Rémy Adriaens, Elliot Jenicot
France, 2025
All Luke wanted to do was win his girlfriend back. Finding himself on the bad end of a drug deal gone wrong, this well-intentioned cocaine addict is now trapped with his head stuck in a squat toilet. Desperate for escape, Luke must contend with ruthless gangsters, a mischievous rat and a barrage of other shit (literally) if he’s going to survive the night in this gross-out festival favorite.
GRIND
Director: Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty, Chelsea Stardust
Cast: Barbara Crampton, Rob Huebel, Christopher Rodriguez-Marquette, Vinny Thomas, Jessika Van, James A Janisse, James Urbaniak
United States, 2025
Overlook alums Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty and Chelsea Stardust return with a hilarious and terrifying anthological look at modern work culture. Featuring four distinct stories (including Overlook hit MLM), this zany, bloody, wacko tale of inequality is sure to galvanize anyone who has ever felt lost in a sea of menial repetitious tasks.
MÃRAMA
Director: Taratoa Stappard
Cast: Ariana Osborne, Toby Stephens, Umi Myers
New Zealand, 2025
Set in on the moors of 1859 North Yorkshire, this Gothic horror follows a Māori teacher who travels to the manor of a wealthy whaler in search of buried truths about her family. What she finds there is something far more threatening—dark secrets that define the grim legacy of the British empire in this bone-chilling Kiwi tale.
THE RESTORATION AT GRAYSON MANOR
Director: Glenn McQuaid
Cast: Chris Colfer, Alice Krige, Daniel Adegboyega, Declan Reynolds, Gabriela Garcia Vargas, Matthew McMahon
Ireland, 2024
When a freak accident leaves the proprietor of Grayson Manor handless, his overbearing mother turns to an experimental treatment, giving him a set of prosthetics controlled by his subconscious. From the twisted mind of writer Clay McCleod Chapman (THE PUMPKIN PIE SHOW) and director Glenn McQuaid (I SELL THE DEAD) comes this sexy, pulpy, Warhol-coded romp.
SUFFOCATION
Director: Louis Chan, Stone Chang
Cast: Yao Ai Ning, Wang Yu Ping, Chu Meng Syuan, Julia Huang, Rainie Dun, Helen Wang, Chun Hong
Taiwan, 2026
Told through a haunting series of Steadicam shots, this chilling Taiwanese twist on J-horror tropes follows a group of elite high-school swimmers who find themselves cursed by a mysterious evil after releasing a video that exposes a teacher-student relationship.
New Retrospective Film Presentation
DEMON LOVER DIARY
Director: Joel DeMott
Cast: Joel DeMott, Jeff Kreines, Donald G. Jackson, Jerry Younkins
United States, 1980
Jeff, a documentary filmmaker, is shooting a low-budget horror film for Don and Jerry, two Michigan factory workers. Jeff’s girlfriend Joel tags along, making a diary film. What could possibly go wrong? The Overlook Film Festival is proud to present an extremely rare 4K screening of this hilarious and horrifying portrait of ambition gone off the rails from the late, pioneering cinema vérité filmmaker Joel DeMott.
Side Shows
Genre diversions from horror tailor-made for the world of the Overlook, presented by Magnolia Pictures
THE FURIOUS
Director: Kenji Tanigaki
Cast: Miao Xie, Joe Taslim, Yang Enyou, Brian Le, Joey Iwanaga
Hong Kong SAR China, 2026
When his daughter Rainy is abducted, humble tradesman Wang Wei is thrust into a deadly underworld of corruption and violence. His only ally is Navin, a relentless journalist haunted by his own past. Together, they fight their way through an international criminal network in a desperate bid to save Rainy and uncover the truth.
NORMAL
Director: Ben Wheatley
Cast: Bob Odenkirk, Henry Winkler, Lena Headey
United States, 2025
Genre-bending director Ben Wheatley (KILL LIST, SIGHTSEERS) returns with a razor-sharp action thriller about a small-town sheriff (Bob Odenkirk) who, following a local bank robbery, uncovers a web of dark dealings in the place he calls home.
OVER YOUR DEAD BODY
Director: Jorma Taccone
Cast: Jason Segel, Samara Weaving, Timothy Olyphant, Juliette Lewis, Paul Guilfoyle, Keith Jardine
United States, 2026
Pitch-perfectly directed by Jorma Taccone (POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING, THE LONELY ISLAND), this action-comedy remake of Tommy Wirkola’s THE TRIP follows a husband and wife (Jason Segel and Samara Weaving) who take a remote weekend getaway as an opportunity to secretly plot to kill each other.
For more on the festival and its other events, check out the official website.
