Tag: Folklore

¡Ay, Leyendas! La venganza del Charro Negro and other Day of the Dead Offerings….

Fans of Ánima’s Las Leyendas outside Mexico may have to wait for La venganza del Charro Negro to find an audience (again).

La venganza del Charro NegroThere aren’t many new entertainment releases for this year’s Día de (los) Muertos, but two offerings caught my eye. One is accessible outside Mexico; for the other, La venganza del Charro Negro (The Legend of the Black Charro: The Revenge), I’m hoping for an eventual home video release. Since 2020, streaming seems to have become the only way to see the Leyendas films after their theatrical runs. I hope to be proved wrong, since there’s a niche fanbase beyond this country.

Whether Netflix’s Day of the Dead: Ofrenda counts depends on how folks feel. Select it, and all we get is a short animated sequence featuring an altar against a changing background. It’s a cute way to acknowledge those who live away from home and want to feel part of this two-day celebration following Halloween.

The other is the latest film in Ánima’s Las Leyendas (Legend Quest) franchise.

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Take Another Trip to Nakali! Forgotten Island Is Coming Home with Plenty of Extras To Boot!

DreamWorks’ Forgotten Island is ready to be found again on both online and home platforms! And this time, it brings folklore to the front!

Forgotten Island Blu-Ray CoverDigital Release: October 27, 2026

It seems that reactions are really divided between fans and critics concerning DreamWorks Animation’s Forgotten Island. Overall, despite a few questionable choices, I enjoyed this film. My movie review can be read here. And with it coming to digital and home video, I can check for those easter eggs, find what’s important with freeze frame, and study the extras.

As for the 4K UHD, Blu-ray™ and DVD release, where there’s more value for your buck and better bit rates, that’s Dec 1, 2026 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Both releases offer 60 minutes of exclusive bonus content, and that’s important to know.

Exclusive features include:

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DreamWorks Forgotten Island: When All Is Not Lost

Forgotten Island may not be fully amazing, but to offer a tale about two lost souls, one found and another feeling wreched is key to how this tale got formed.

Forgotten IslandIt seems that when DreamWorks releases an original work, not everyone is excited about it. Personally, I’ve been eager to see something that isn’t an adaptation of a children’s book or YA novel, and Forgotten Island fills that gap perfectly! What’s presented is a mishmash of Filipino folklore woven into a tale crafted for the same demographic to watch rather than enjoy on paper.

Here, Raissa Molina (Liza Soberano) and Jo Yuson (Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson) are two kids who meet under the most auspicious of circumstances and quickly become best friends. Years later, as high school graduation looms, Raissa’s parents announce she’s going to Caltech to study, and Jo fears being left behind. What they discover during their “last days” together sends them on a fantasy trip to Wonderland!

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Fright Fest’s Ravenous, Unseen Ithaqua Reinvents the Wendigo Legend

Casey Walker’s Ithaqua transforms the frozen Canadian wilderness into a Western Gothic nightmare where hunger, colonialism and the Wendigo legend converge. Luke Hemsworth leads this brutal survival tale where the cold may be the least dangerous thing outside.

Ithaqua Movie Poster World Premiere
Played at Fright Fest 2026
on Sat 29 3:30 PM (BST)

Life in the Canadian wilderness can be rough. It’s even tougher once those brutal winters settle in and settlers are forced to huddle together in huts, where the only warmth comes from a fire burning beneath an opening for smoke to escape. And no, those aren’t smoke signals to signal something specific. When the name Ithaqua isn’t widely known, it takes a talent like Casey Walker to convey the intent. Between Walker and co-writers Pascal Trottier and Peter Scott Vicaire, who flesh out the lore and world, what’s presented is haunting and eerie.

Between expectations created by the title and how August Derleth used Ithaqua in his fiction, there’s no cosmic horror this time. It’s survival through and through, and I’d label this film Western Gothic, especially given its fantastic cinematography and depiction of survival in the snow. Frosted water creates alien textures, mist hangs over the lake, and the environment itself feels alive. The question becomes: who reigns in this world? The answer suggests someone does, and that’s a cat-and-mouse game I can get behind!

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Hail Sailor! When There’s No Rest for the Wicked After Navigating the Hoary Seas, What’s Next?

Set on the Faroe Islands in 1862, No Rest for the Wicked blends forbidden romance, Norse folklore and slow-burning Gothic horror. Its haunting atmosphere works better than its confused vampire mythology.

No Rest for the Wicked Movie Poster
Screened at Fantasia Film Festival on July 25, 2026 at the Salle J.A. De Sève

No Rest for the Wicked is a great title for a movie. With early marketing and reviews from the 2026 Fantasia Film Festival describing it as a queer love story wrapped inside a Gothic vampire drama, perhaps Lestat has a new rival. If we’re judging who wears the crown for best-looking vampire, Helge (Pilou Asbæk), the Danish whaler, wins hands down.

There’s also something to be said for stripping away the Gothic excess that vampire stories from this period embraced. Set in 1862 on the Faroe Islands, this tale exists on the edge of civilization, where survival comes before superstition and every stranger is met with suspicion. Young Baldur (Egor Venned) doesn’t have much to do, and he’s like every other kid from a small village: bored.

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Don’t Be Afraid of Fantasia Film Festival On What Short Programs Are On Fire!

One staple of this film festival is their Are You Afraid of Fantasia short film program. It’s big, bad, and looks more promising than ever beforfe!

Afraid of Fantasia Film Festival 2026 poster
Event runs from July 16 to August 2, 2026. Montreal, Quebec.

For some attendees, deciding what to focus on during Fantasia Film Festival 2026 will be tough. That’s especially true with ARE YOU AFRAID OF FANTASIA?, the first of three shorts programs I’m highlighting here. With this particular smorgaboard taking place at the Salle J.A. De Sève on the 17th of July, horror fans and folklore lovers should put this program high on their list.

What follows is a quick summary of what to expect from each short, followed by two other programs worth keeping on your radar. Like the prior article, I’ll highlight the three shorts I’m most excited for with an image.

Broc! (also known as Xi Lan Hua Shi Bian)
(Hong Kong, dir. Wong Chung-Him / Calvin Woo, Canadian Premiere)

In a world inhabited only by zombies, a couple begin transforming into humans after eating broccoli. As their world turns upside down, the question is what kind of absurdist world must they live in now? This work explores the fragile boundaries of identity and human nature, and if it turns out we’re all just vegetables meant to rot, then we’re in trouble.

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