2026 FANGORIA Chainsaw Awards: Best International Movie Nominees

After stunning audiences with her 2021 film Titane, it’s no surprise that French director Julia Ducournau appears on this list. Her newest film Alpha, starring Tahar Rahim, tackles body horror in the same unique way as her past work, drawing not only on the inherent fear of infection, but also how trauma manifests in the body, and how we share it with others.

The film had its premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or Award, and opened the Sitges Film Festival before NEON once again acquired the film for release this spring.

Based on the popular video game from Kotake Create, Exit 8 turned a horror-themed walking simulator into a claustrophobic reflection on existence and choice from director Genki Kawamura. Starring Kazunari Ninomiya, the film takes a relatively simple premise — walking through an identical loop trying to spot anomalies in order to escape — and uses it to reflect on one man’s life and the decisions that led him to the subway tunnel where he’s now trapped. 

In a year where some video game movies failed to flounder (looking at you, Return to Silent Hill), Exit 8 remains a high point, both for enthusiasts of the original game, as well as J-horror lovers and those looking for more subtle scares in their movies rather than outright jumpscares.

Director Taratoa Stappard takes the Gothic genre and turns it on its head in his debut feature film Mārama, featuring Ariāna Osborne as a young Māori woman who journeys to England to find out the truth about her family. What she discovers is more horrifying than she could possibly have imagined, and with it comes a reckoning that no one is prepared for, not even her. 

The film uses its own genre conventions to emotionally devastating effect, turning a primarily Eurocentric style of story into a deeply moving commentary on colonialism and Māori identity, and one hell of an entry into the canon of “Good for Her.”

A retired spy living in the French Riviera contends with the sins of his past in this film from husband and wife directing duo Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, also known for their experimental giallo film The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears. Fabio Testi stars as the spy who fears his former enemies are back for a final fight when his intriguing next-door neighbor mysteriously disappears, sending him down a strange rabbit hole of memory and murder. 

Premiering at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival, Reflection in a Dead Diamond was nominated for the Golden Bear, one of the most prestigious festival awards to exist. It also won a Gotham Award for Outstanding Original Film, Broadcast or Streaming, and four Magritte Awards from Belgium’s Académie André Delvaux.

Originally premiering in Spain in 2024 before arriving in the US last year, Pedro Martín-Calero’s psychological horror film follows a trio of women all chased by the same supernatural entity, one that they cannot see or understand, but warns of its presence with a distant, keening wail. Much like films like It Follows, The Wailing builds suspense not with what audiences can see, but what  can’t. 

The film had its world premiere at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in 2024, where it won Martín-Calero the Silver Shell Award for Best Director, as well as earning a Goya Award nomination for Best New Director.