Feels Like Home (Hungary, 2026)
Official Synopsis
Kidnapped by a family convinced she is their missing daughter, a woman must assume another identity to survive as she seeks a way out of this nightmare. Rita, an ordinary, but lonely woman is kidnapped. Her captors are the Árpáds; they claim she is not called Rita but Szilvi, a runaway from their family. Rita eventually understands that the only way out is in – to escape she must impersonate Szilvi. The more she becomes the lost girl the more she finds out about the family, and understands that her life is on the line.
Review
Director Gábor Holtai’s Hungarian feature Feels Like Home is a dynamic blend of thriller, mystery, and drama with horror elements, as well. The acting throughout is a master class, led by Rozi Lovas’s bravura performance as Rita, a woman who is kidnapped mere minutes after losing her job at a shoe store.
One of the kidnappers claims to be her brother Marci (Áron Molnár), who tells her that she is actually named Szilvi Árpád, who left the family home, lorded over by their father Papa (Tibor Szervét). I’ll leave the plot description there, as Feels Like Home is absolutely best suited for going in as cold as possible.
Power dynamics, psychological gamesmanship, and an ambience of claustrophobia and dread are abundant. Attila Veres’ screenplay is rich with mystique, and Holtai paces the proceedings wonderfully, unveiling its secrets at a tantalizing pace. Cinematographer Dániel Szőke captures the dark, and sometimes darkly comic, proceedings marvelously.
Holtai’s masterful feature is a brilliant slice of genre cinema that has captured a solid place in my top 10 favorite films of 2026. Feels Like Home is strongly recommended for genre film devotees of all stripes.
Black Zombie (Canada, 2026)
Official Synopsis
From the flickering screens of Hollywood horror to the haunted cane fields of colonial Haiti, the documentary unearths the buried origins of the zombie, reclaiming it as a symbol of survival and spiritual resistance. BLACK ZOMBIE digs beneath the blood-soaked spectacle of modern horror to uncover the story of the most popular, yet misunderstood monster of our time. Born from enslavement, spiritual belief, and resistance, the zombie first emerged in Haiti before becoming one of pop culture’s most profitable monsters. The film traces its evolution from Vodou, to WHITE ZOMBIE, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW. Part cultural reckoning, part horror remix, BLACK ZOMBIE is a bold reclamation of Haitian Vodou and celebration of the only nation forged through a successful slave uprising.
Review
Long before George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead kicked off Western pop culture’s — and beyond that, the world’s — fascination with zombies, Hollywood zombie fare consisted of portraying zombies loosely based on Haiti’s religious practice Vodou. Writer/director Maya Annik Bedward does a highly admirable job of presenting the remarkable history of Vodou and Haiti, how being a “zombie” was originally a form of slavery, the resilience of the country’s people, and the whitewashing of that culture regarding international zombie pop culture, especially horror films.
With Black Zombie, Bedward asks zombie aficionados to reconsider what to think about and how as they continue to consume their movies, TV series, comic books, novels, and other related fare. She does this in a manner that feels like true teaching, rather than merely lecturing at viewers. Interviewees include Vodou practitioner Yves-Grégory Francois and filmmaker Tananarive Due, who, along with others, help bring a strong social context to the proceedings.
Black Zombie is a strong history lesson about Haitian culture, and also how Hollywood has presented zombies, from the original “fear of the other” elements to the massive outbreaks for which it has been known for several decades. This fine documentary comes highly recommended to general audiences interested in history, culture, and cinema, not just zombie fans.
Feels Like Home and Black Zombie screened as part of Calgary Underground Film Festival, which ran April 16-26, 2026. For more information, visit calgaryundergroundfilm.com.
