Fantasia Film Festival 2026 – Writer/director Angus Silver’s Insectasy is an erotic thriller, only a creepy crawly one involving a whole lot of bugs. As the title suggests, the film’s protagonist has a thing for insects, all kinds of insects. Because of that, she has a tough time balancing her one true love with her job and social life. The result is a weird, yet creative feature.
Tirion Healey stars as Sadie. In the opening minutes, she listens to an erotic recording about oral sex, and yes, she’s getting off. However, it’s not just the recording that gets her hot and bothered. It’s the fact that she takes a cup with a bug in it and allows the critter to crawl around on her stomach and breasts. This, coupled with the recording, is what gets her off. It’s one heck of an opening sequence that alerts viewers this movie is likely going to make them uncomfortable, and yet, it’s so unusual that it’s tough to look away.
What this movie handles well are those deeply private moments, when Sadie pops in the earphones and gets off to erotic recordings and bugs creeping along her skin, with moments in her exterior life. She works a job as a receptionist, and early in the film, while on break, she strikes up a conversation with the seemingly nice guy Theo (Emmet Roiko). The two have chemistry, and it’s evident that maybe, just maybe Sadie wants something more with him because she’s spent time watching and observing him, but then, there are the bugs. It’s an obsession that rules over Sadie’s life. Even when she’s trying to strike up a conversation with a guy, or at work, she can’t stop thinking about the bugs. This movie doesn’t kink shame anyone, including a young woman who has a deep, deep fetish for insects, but it does address the theme of obsession and show how this love of bugs impacts Sadie’s outer world and makes it difficult for her to form and maintain relationships.
The film also contains artsy interludes that sometimes break away from the overall narrative. There’s a graininess to them that makes it feel like they were filmed on a VHS camcorder. These sequences feel like something that would have run late at night on MTV in the 1990s. They’re interesting to watch, but it’s unclear what their overall purpose is within the greater context of the feature. This movie works best when it focuses on Sadie trying to navigate the world when all she can think about are her dear bugs.
Insectasy will make viewers uncomfortable. From its opening minutes, it’s clear that the film wants to explore fantasy, pleasure, and eroticism with bugs thrown into the mix. The movie works best when it explores obsession and Sadie’s struggles not to let her deepest pleasure consume her.
