Just in time for our Heritage Month, Fantastic Fest 2025 is here! The horror/genre film festival based in Austin, Texas, brings ghoulish delights to film fans who want everything bloody, brutal, and bonkers. For eight days starting September 18, genre fans of all stripes can enjoy new releases, secret screenings, and repertory fare from the comfort of the Alamo Drafthouse’s flagship theater.

Among the burnt ends and weirdly wonderful picks at Fantastic Fest 2025 are three Latine projects worth checking out. While the majority of the Spanish-language titles at the fest this year are from Spain (as if they didn’t colonize enough already), the Latine films in the lineup are sure to have something for everyone.

Don’t Leave the Kids Alone

We all had that Home Alone-esque fantasy when we were children: parents away, a time to enjoy endless pizza, and stay up hours past bedtime. In Emilio Portes’s No Dejes a Los Niños Solos, brothers Matías and Emiliano get to live it out while their mom is out of the house. But like all good things, there’s a cost – and the house might not be as empty as the boys thought. When something starts going bump in the empty hallways of their home, the brothers will have to switch gears from enjoying a childhood dream come true to fighting the entities in their midst. Mexican Director Portes’s film blends coming-of-age nostalgia and childhood terror to deliver one frightful flick that audiences at Fantastic Fest 2025 should enjoy.

Crazy Old Lady

Horror has always been a window into social commentary, and what appears deceptively simple on its surface often has more to say. In Crazy Old Lady, it’s clear Pedro is in for a lot when he decides to do a favor for his ex-girlfriend and check in on her ailing mother, who’s dealing with dementia and is probably off her medication. When he realizes she is having delusions that he’s her dearly departed husband, who she was married to during the time of Argentina’s dictatorship, all bets are off. What starts as a welfare check turns into something much more harrowing. Argentinian Director Martín Mauregui uses the very real horrors of dementia and one character’s dark past to interrogate the devastating past of his own country.

Night Stage

For years now, cinephiles (myself included) have been clamoring for the return of erotic thrillers, and in Night Stage, it seems like our wishes have been granted. With this movie, Brazilian directors Marcio Reolon and Filipe Matzembacher promise us everything: gay rivalry, clandestine affairs, political intrigue, and murder. Main characters Matias and Fabio are frenemies competing for fame on a new TV series. Meanwhile, Matias is having an affair with politician Rafael, who is trying to remain closeted while indulging in the couple’s exhibitionist kink. As if all this wasn’t enough to keep one movie chugging along, someone gets killed, too. What more could you ask for from an erotic thriller?

The Latine features at Fantastic Fest 2025 promise a lot for genre fans making their horror pilgrimage to Austin, TX. From haunted houses to historical commentary and erotic thrillers, there’s no shortage of freaky films to dig into. One thing’s for sure: none of them will be boring!