All Of Deadline’s Reviews From The Festival

The 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival kicked off March 7, in Austin and features 49 world premieres among debuts. It’s the first time the event has launched on a Thursday.

Boots Riley’s sci-fi comedy I Love Boosters was the opening-night film, and other anticipated films include Searchlight’s Radio Silence sequel Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, New Line’s Samara Weaving-Zazie Beetz horror action comedy They Will Kill You,  Lionsgate’s John Carney-directed music movie Power Ballad starring Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas, the Vince Vaughn gangster pic Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice and Jorma Taccone’s couples-trying-to-kill-each-other pic Over Your Dead Body.

Here is a compilation of Deadline’s movie reviews from the 33rd anniversary fest, which runs through March 18 in the Texas capital.

Section: Narrative SpotlightDirectors: Kevin Bacon, Kyra SedgwickCast: Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Sosie Bacon, Travis Bacon, Liza Koshy, John Carroll Lynch, Jackie Earle Haley, Andrea Savage, Austin Amelio, Scoot McNairy, Nathaniel WoolseyDeadline’s takeaway: There can be no question the Bacons are having a hell of a good time sending up this well-traveled genre. The premise may sound like a riff, but it works. — PH

Section: Narrative Feature CompetitionDirectors: Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty, Chelsea StardustCast: Barbara Crampton, Rob Huebel, Christopher Marquette, Jessika Van, Vinny Thomas, Mercedes Mason, Matt Mercer, Aubrey SheaDeadline’s takeaway: The ingenious horror-comedy anthology achieves the almost unthinkable: while it delivers the requisite laughs and shocks — never an easy balance to strike, even at the best of times — it is just as effective in its jabs at the gig economy as anything by Britain’s Ken Loach or any other director from the school of social realism. — DW

Section: HeadlinerDirector-screenwriter: Boots Riley Cast: Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, Demi MooreDeadline’s takeaway: Boots Riley’s sophomore feature is a surreal, hyperpop love letter to creatives living under capitalism that successfully captures the hopelessness of our current capitalist dystopia. The camp factor is evident in every frame. — GG

Section: Documentary SpotlightDirector: Rachel MasonDeadline’s takeaway: My Brother’s Killer is an overdue valediction for the victim of a gruesome, long unsolved L.A. murder, a romantic loner whose haunting and horribly prophetic poem “A Piece of Me” bookends the film, offering a poignant glimpse of a future that might have been but never was. — DW

Section: HeadlinerDirector: Vicky JewsonCast: Iris Apatow, Lana Condor, Millicent Simmonds, Avantika, Maddie Ziegler, Uma ThurmanDeadline’s takeaway: In Pretty Lethal, Jewson manages to walk that line of gritty dark action, a la John Wick and Tarantino’s entire toxically masculine oeuvre, balanced with unapologetic laughs and an emotionally satisfying story of sisterhood. — GG

Section: HeadlinerDirectors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler GillettCast: Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, Néstor Carbonell, David Cronenberg, Elijah WoodDeadline’s takeaway: This action-packed, blood-soaked sequel is just what fans have been waiting for the past seven years, hopefully paving the way for a trilogy in this sinister world Radio Silence has created. — GG

Section: Narrative SpotlightDirector-screenwriter: Victoria StrouseCast: Hannah Einbinder, Justin Theroux, John Reynolds, Griffin Gluck, Justine Lupe, Greg Kinnear, David Ury, Michelle Johnston, Andrea PyleDeadline’s takeaway: Smart, sharply written and directed comedies are a rare bird these days, but Victoria Strouse takes a situation that easily could have sailed over the top, cast it intelligently and created some outrageously funny situations. — PH

Section: 24 Beats Per MinuteDirector: Ken KwapisDeadline’s takeaway: This charming documentary sees the strange, one-album band of sisters known as The Shaggs for who they really and were, pushing past the “outsider art” label to arrive at something much more dignified, personal and, ultimately, moving. — DW

Section: Narrative Feature CompetitionWriter-director: Graham ParkesCast: Lewis Pullman, Maya Hawke, Randall Park, Jake Shane, Kate Berlant, Amita Rao, Eric RahillDeadline’s takeaway: Wishful Thinking is ultimately a dreamy romantic comedy about the lengths people will go for the ones they love, as well as the realization that they need inner harmony to foster a harmonious relationship with others. — GG