Fans of RogerEbert.com know that we’re about to enter a fun phase of the year as the SXSW Film Festival gets underway, starting tonight with the world premiere of Boots Riley’s “I Love Boosters,” the long-awaited second film by the director of “Sorry to Bother You.” It’s only one of a number of fascinating premieres this year that we can’t wait to see and review for you.
What should you expect from SXSW? Programming that’s a bit left of center, including standout genre flicks of recent years like “It Ends” and “Oddity,” alongside major Hollywood premieres. SXSW is where we filed reviews of “A Quiet Place,” “Us,” “John Wick: Chapter Four,” “The Fall Guy,” “Monkey Man,” and so many more future hits. What will break out this year? Here are twelve that we’re most excited to see try:
“Dreamquil”
One of the slogans for SXSW’s chief setting is “Keep Austin Weird.” Based on the description, this should help. It’s got an amazing cast that includes Elizabeth Banks, John C. Reilly, and Juliette Lewis. But it’s this odd synopsis that has us intrigued: “Set in the not so distant future, when poor air quality leads to people living mostly virtual lives. Carol is a dissatisfied career mother, struggling to find connection within her marriage to Gary and her child. With the day to day familiarity of their home and lives feeling increasingly claustrophobic, and worried she could be heading towards divorce, Carol leaps at the chance to get her life back on track by signing up for “DreamQuil”, an avant-garde digital wellness retreat. When Carol returns home however, she discovers her family has been living with “Carol 2″, a robot the corporation sent designed to help in her absence, and things take a mysterious and sinister turn.”
“Hokum”
Damian McCarthy directed one of my favorite horror films of the decade in “Oddity,” and he returns to SXSW this year with a much-anticipated follow-up starring Adam Scott (who appears twice in this preview, actually, hinting at a potentially great 2026 for the “Severance” star). Scott plays Ohm Bauman, a novelist who arrives at an inn that might be haunted by a ghost. McCarthy has proven he’s adept at folkloric hauntings, giving this arguably the highest potential among a number of horror flicks premiering in Austin this year.
“I Love Boosters”
The people at Neon are behind Boots Riley’s return to the big screen, one that boasts a ridiculously talented ensemble. Get a load of this crew of young talent: Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, LaKeith Stanfield, and Will Poulter. And then add Demi Moore’s first major role since her comeback in “The Substance.” What’s it about? The SXSW description is tantalizingly vague: “A crew of professional shoplifters takes aim at a cutthroat fashion maven. It’s like community service.” Sign us up.
“Kill Me”
There are so many weird horror movies in this year’s program that one might mistake it for Fantastic Fest. Which one will break out of the glut? Maybe it’s the unusual plot description or the promising cast (Charlie Day, Allison Williams, Giancarlo Esposito, Aya Cash), but this feels like a solid candidate. Get a load of this enticing pitch: “Jimmy wakes up in a bathtub filled with his own blood, his wrists slit and his life rapidly nearing completion. This would be a textbook failed suicide attempt, only…Jimmy didn’t do it? At least, he’s pretty sure he didn’t. Alongside Margot, the 911 operator who took his call that faithful night, Jimmy begins an amateur-hour murder investigation, desperate to prove that this is a whodunnit and not a hedunnit.”
“Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice”
Man, this looks fun. And it will be on Hulu before the end of the month! We’ll see it first and let you know if it’s worth watching. Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, Eiza Gonzalez, Keith David, and many more star in an R-rated comedy about hitmen and time travel. Yep. Here’s the official synopsis: “’Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice’ is a hilarious, stylized, R-rated action-comedy about two gangsters and the woman they love trying to survive the most dangerous night of their lives. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s one wild ingredient added to the mix: a time machine.”
“Over Your Dead Body”
Lonely Island genius Jorma Taccone switches gears for this enticing war of the roses starring Jason Segel and Samara Weaving (also doing double duty in this preview) as a couple who head to a cabin to reconnect, only to discover that they’re both planning murder as a way out of the relationship. IFC already has this planned for a splashy April premiere, but we’ll let you know this weekend if you should mark your calendar.
“Pizza Movie”
Now that “Stranger Things” has ended, it will be interesting to see which of the young stars breaks out of that defining show. My money might be on Gaten Matarazzo, who stars in this Hulu comedy that will drop on the streaming service in April. It sounds like a fun drug comedy with an SXSW description that reads thusly: “It’s a Friday night and college students Jack and Montgomery have got big plans: They’re going to do drugs and order pizza. But when the home-made drug they ingest turns out to be MUCH wilder than they thought, the simple journey down two flights of stairs to retrieve their pie becomes a mind-bindingly transformative quest. Still, though, how hard can it be? The only thing in their way is a broken elevator, Montgomery’s social anxiety, the fact that everybody in the school hates Jack, a sociopathic RA, a vengeful butterfly, a robot with a dream, and this insane drug that has absolutely no regard for the basic laws of reality.”
“Power Ballad”
John Carney honestly, unequivocally believes in the power of music, as seen in films like “Once” and “Sing Street.” The beloved writer/director brings his Lionsgate film “Power Ballad” to this year’s fest. Paul Rudd stars as Rick, a wedding singer who gave up his dreams of rock and roll to start a family. When he helps a pop star in need of a comeback played by Nick Jonas, he’s startled when the song they wrote together becomes a hit … and he gets no credit. Carney has proven he knows how to do feel-good comedy well, and it’s unlikely that song is going to be out of tune this time.
“Ready or Not 2: Here I Come”
While it seems almost impossible that “Ready or Not” was seven years ago, that just makes anticipation for this long-awaited follow-up even more prominent. Samara Weaving returns (as do the original directors after their double-feature excursion into the “Scream” universe), now hunted by multiple families rather than just her awful in-laws. This one drops in theaters next week, making it the first SXSW 2026 you’ll probably be able to see. Want another reason to play this game? Check out this cool supporting cast: Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, Néstor Carbonell, David Cronenberg, and Elijah Wood.
“The Saviors”
Why does a pairing of Adam Scott and Danielle Deadwyler sound so cool? Maybe it’s because they’re always at least good, and often great? They play Sean and Kim Harrison, a divorcing couple who rent their home to a Middle Eastern brother and sister. The Harrisons become convinced that their new tenants are hiding a deadly secret, especially with the President about to come to town. This could go either way, but it’s one of the few plot descriptions this year that sounds truly timely and maybe even a little edgy.
“They Will Kill You”
The last major premiere of this year’s SXSW is this Warner Bros. genre flick starring Zazie Beetz as the latest target for a cult of demon worshippers looking for a sacrifice. It’s got a pretty wicked trailer, one that promises humor and gore, in equal measure.
“Wishful Thinking”
Lewis Pullman and Maya Hawke are two performers who seem right on the cusp of reaching another level in their careers. Maybe that happens here with this opening night SXSW film with a crazy premise. We’ll let the SXSW synopsis explain why this made our curtain raiser: “Julia and Charlie, a volatile couple in Portland, Oregon, are at a loss for how to repair their broken relationship. Julia, an ambitious game designer, and Charlie, a struggling musician working in sound design to pay the bills, are pushed by Julia’s friend into attending a couples-therapy seminar run by twin healers, the Tillies, who claim to fix relationships through energy work. The session triggers a karmic universal system that makes the state of their relationship affect the world around them. With earthquakes, the stock market, and entire nations at risk, Charlie and Julia must confront whether their love can survive amidst so much destruction.”
