13 Indie Gems We Can’t Wait To See At Fantastic Fest 2025
The 2025 edition of Fantastic Fest starts this week, with the world premiere of Johannes Roberts’ Primate. The line-up is absolutely stacked with premieres of films like Black Phone 2, V/H/S/Halloween, Shelby Oaks, and more. But, Fantastic Fest isn’t just about the big titles. It’s also a place to discover incredible indie titles from around the world, films that you otherwise may never have given a chance. That’s why we’re here to share a few titles playing at this year’s festival that may have flown under your radar.
A Useful Ghost (dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke)
After the untimely passing of his wife, Nat, due to dust pollution, March is tormented not only by sorrow but also by the restless spirits that haunt his family’s crumbling household appliance factory. His late wife returns as one of those spirits, refusing to move on by possessing an old vacuum cleaner, setting March’s life on a surreal path of acceptance and reconciliation.
Past the initial absurdity of the situation, their love is rekindled, and their bond grows stronger than ever despite the family’s rejection and skepticism towards this supernatural relationship. Nat then seeks redemption as “a useful ghost” and offers to clean the factory of more malevolent presences in order to gain the family’s trust once again.
Body Blow (dir. Dean Francis)
Aiden is a tough guy. He’s got bulging muscles, he’s a cop, and he jerks off in high-speed traffic—a real man’s man. When he’s assigned to an undercover duty in Sydney’s gay district, Aiden’s reluctant to spend his days surrounded by so many fairies and queens. After a few shots and the advances of a scantily clad young man named Cody, he finds out he might not be as opposed to having sex with men as he thought. Aiden blames the encounter on his self-diagnosed sex addiction, but unfortunately for him, a powerful drag queen drug lord has security cam footage of his drunken mistake. Now, teamed up with Cody, he must navigate a conspiracy of dominance, money, submission, and corruption to find his way to the truth.
Camp (dir. Avalon Fast)
“I was marked by tragedy so early on, and now it’s completely covering me,” Emily tells her father after watching her best friend overdose and die right in front of her. This traumatic event happens almost immediately after Emily confesses to having accidentally killed a child with her car. To reset and see what healing might be found, Emily takes a summer job as a counselor at a Christian kids camp, despite not being religious. Luckily for her, she makes friends with other counselors who definitely don’t seem religious either: they drink, they smoke, they hook up with each other, and Emily suspects they are witches. She decides to see what power they can find together.
The Cramps: A Period Piece (dir. Brooke H. Cellars)
Agnes Applewhite, a blossoming young woman caught between her sanctimonious mother and tightly wound sister, defies her family’s expectations by taking a job as a shampoo girl at a lively beauty salon. As she thrives in this new, colorful world, she is suddenly confronted by debilitating menstrual cramps that become real-life monsters, blurring the line between reality and nightmare.
Inspired by director Brooke H. Cellars’ own battle with endometriosis, her feature debut is a fearless exploration of period pain as a horror creature feature lodged inside your body. Filmed in 35mm with a bold, technicolor palette and nods to 1960s aesthetics, the film marries surreal visuals and drag-inspired, psychosexual weirdness to create its stylized universe.
The Curse (dir. Kenichi Ugana)
After seeing her friend’s disturbing social media posts, Riko tries to intervene to help her but fails to prevent her from dying a mysterious, violent death. Convinced there is more to the story than a suicide, Riko dives into a world of memes, influencers, and posting for attention. As the pile of bodies grows, and Riko faces her own possible curse, she and her friends travel to Taiwan to find the source of this demonic social media killer.
Deathstalker (dir. Steve Kostanski)
Deathstalker, an ex-soldier who answers to no one, roams the Kingdom of Abraxion scavenging and stealing. When he’s attacked by a Dreadite seeking an amulet he stole from a dying soldier on the battlefield, he decides to get rid of the artifact—only to discover that the amulet has latched onto him.
In his quest to undo the curse, he reluctantly pairs up with Brisbayne, a thief extraordinaire, and Doodad, a wizard who is small in stature but great in wisdom. Doodad reveals that Necromemnon, a dark sorcerer whose only desire is to bring the world to its knees, is hunting for the amulet. The trio of unwilling adventurers becomes the last hope for Abraxion.
Dolly (dir. Rod Blackhurst)
Chase and Macy drop off Chase’s daughter, Evy, and then hike to a nearby overlook where he plans to propose. Those plans are soon forgotten when they discover a weird ‘art installation’ of dirty, broken dolls.
Unfortunately, the dolls are actually more of an altar to the victims of Dolly—a violent, hulking, child-like person in a tattered dress and a porcelain doll mask—who arrives to bury the decapitated corpse of their latest plaything. While they have little interest in Chase outside of violence, Macy catches their eye and is taken home to become their newest doll.
The Holy Boy (dir. Paolo Strippoli)
Sergio is a broken man. Haunted by the loss of his son, he takes a substitute teaching job in Remis, a quiet Italian town, hoping to escape his grief. But the pain remains, heavy and unrelenting. Sensing his anguish, Michela—the owner of the local bar—guides him to the town’s church, promising that “his pain will be eased.” There, Sergio is led into a mysterious room and asked to embrace Matteo, one of his students—a boy believed to possess holy powers. In that moment, something shifts. Sergio’s sorrow lifts, replaced by a strange sense of peace.
What begins as a miraculous encounter blossoms into an unexpected friendship. As Sergio opens Matteo’s mind to new ideas, he also awakens in him a longing for freedom—one that begins to unsettle the deeply rooted traditions of the town. Empowered and transformed, Matteo eventually decides to break free from the grip of Remis, taking full command of the force within him.
Honey Bunch (dirs. Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer)
Following a devastating accident, Homer (Ben Petrie) checks his physically & cognitively impaired partner, Diana (Grace Glowicki), into a secluded, experimental facility for a Hail Mary attempt at recovery. While reconstructing her past life with a seemingly loving partner, Diana begins to piece together fragments of her memory but fears that she’ll lose her mind in the process. The mystery deepens when a beleaguered father (Jason Isaacs) arrives, also seeking treatment for his ailing daughter.
Marama (dir. Taratoa Stappard)
North Yorkshire, 1859. Mary, a young Māori woman from Aotearoa, New Zealand, travels to England to meet with Boyd, a man who claims to have information about her biological parents. When informed by Nathaniel Cole, a wealthy benefactor, that Boyd died of pox, Mary is disheartened. Cole, a man fascinated by the Māoris, offers Mary a place in his home as a governess to his daughter.
But as Mary settles into this foreign world, she begins to sense something darker beneath Cole’s fascination with Māori culture as his sinister obsession slowly comes to light. As the truth unravels, Mary is compelled to reclaim her heritage and her true name, Mārama, setting her on a path of reckoning and vengeance against the man who defiled her culture.
The Restoration at Grayson Manor (dir. Glenn McQuaid)
Boyd Grayson is an Irish playboy who delights in bringing men home to his sprawling family estate for sex, just to spite his legacy-obsessed mother, reminding her she’ll never get the grandchildren she craves. When an accident leaves him incapacitated, Boyd finds himself handless, helpless, and at the mercy of her care.
Luckily for Boyd, his mother’s familial wealth has given him the opportunity to be the first person in the history of the world to pilot an experimental technology: mechanical hands controlled entirely by his subconscious. Soon, however, the hands begin to move on their own… even when they’re not attached to Boyd’s body.
Sirat (dir. Oliver Laxe)
Luis and his son, Esteban, travel to an illegal rave taking place somewhere south of Morocco. Luis’s daughter, Mar, has been missing for some time, and word has it she might be found at the rave. When the party is abruptly shut down by the authorities, Luis decides to follow a group of ravers who evade the army’s control and head toward another gathering deeper in the desert.
Unprepared for such a journey into unknown territory, Luis is forced to ration his food and water—reluctant to share with the group that only half-heartedly accepted him. As they push further into the desert, the road trip begins to take a dangerous and increasingly dark turn.
Theater Is Dead (dir. Katherine Dudas)
Willow (Decker Sadowski), a small-town dreamer, becomes hypnotized by Matthew (Shane West), a big-deal theater director who convinces her she’s finally found her voice—only for her to realize she’s stumbled into something darker, wilder, and way less union-regulated. It’s like acting class turned cult meeting: everyone’s at full volume, and nobody trusts anybody.
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