Fantastic Fest 2026 has another premiere worth circling. No Rest for the Wicked, a Gothic horror film set in the isolated Faroe Islands of 1862, will make its U.S. premiere at the festival in Austin this September.
Directed and co-written by Kasper Kalle, the film is adapted from a short story by German author Karl Heinrich Ulrichs — writing under a pseudonym in 1884, Ulrichs was one of the first people to publicly advocate for gay rights, and his fiction carries the weight of that world. No Rest for the Wicked centers on Baldur, a fisherman whose solitary life is shattered when a rugged whaler named Helge arrives and awakens a dangerous mutual attraction. When tragedy strikes, their forbidden passion unleashes forces the island community cannot contain. The film is Gothic horror in the truest sense: a story where repression and desire open something monstrous.
The cast is anchored by Egor Venned and Borgen star Pilou Asbæk, with Sofia Nolsøe, Héloïse Volle, and Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson filling out the ensemble. The film is produced by Lars Bredo Rahbek and executive produced by Lars Bjørn Hansen.
No Rest for the Wicked makes its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest 2026 (September 17–24, Alamo Drafthouse, Austin, Texas).
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