Banner Indonesian action thriller The Queen of Malacca, American DIY horror legend The Addams Family’s The Glorious Dead and murderous severed penis drama thriller Astrolatry will be featured in another strong line-up on the Frontière platform at the Cannes Film Festival.
The Frontière Platform, Cannes’ largest genre showcase, will take place from May 16th to 17th, further testament to the genre’s artistic ambitions and jargon construction.
Variety reports that it is one of Frontier’s most awaited titles that will be announced at Cannes and will “liven up” the JAFF market in 2025. “The Queen of Malacca” is the latest work from director Angga Dwimas Sasonko, who directed the action film “The Eavesdropping Raden Saleh,” which had more than 2.3 million viewers and was Indonesia’s highest-grossing film.
Hot on the heels of the January release of Mothers of Flies, the Addams Family collective (father John, mother Toby Poser, and daughters Zelda and Lulu) are back with The Glorious Dead. It’s “a new look at what the end of the world could be like for those who are still alive and those whose graves cannot be appeased,” John Adams and Poser told Variety.
“There’s DIY filmmaking, and then there’s the horror factory the Addams family built in the woods of the Catskill Mountains near their hometown in New York state,” Variety commented in January.
A memorable new creature feature, “Astrolatry,” turns on a chronic masturbator obsessed with a model who accidentally castrates himself. People who are sensitive should not watch that scene. His severed penis becomes a sentient being who embarks on psychosexual murderous acts.
Also generating positive reviews are Oan Hostench’s Spanish-language title “Read the Bones,” with its sensational proof-of-concept teaser, the absurdist psychological deliveryman thriller “GRIND,” and Ajuan Isaac-George’s “Duppy,” which explores an under-traveled genre in Jamaica.
Organized by Canada’s Fantasia International Film Festival and Cannes Marché du Film, the Frontière platform consists of two sections: proof of concept for projects and a buyer showcase focused on titles in post-production.
Annick Marnert, Frontier’s executive director, told Variety that the company received 124 applications this year, nearly 100 applications in 2025, and 82 applications in 2024, a record high.
“We’ve finally gotten to a point where even veteran producers are coming to us looking for partners because they know there’s a community that takes the genre seriously and they need connections,” Marnert said. “Right now we’re getting so many applications from people I’ve never heard of, like India, Malaysia, South America, Japan, Taiwan,” she added.
Mahnert said the selection includes several new voices. “Astrolatry,” “The Wrath,” “Read the Bones,” “Balloon,” and “Duppy” are certainly first works of fiction.
The platform also highlights the latest features from young authors in rapidly emerging genres. Two examples are Dutch director Didier Konings’s “Aulken,” whose fest hit “Witte Wieven” hit Shudder in early May, and Norwegian director Viljar Bo’s “You’ve Been Chosen,” who broke out with “Good Boy” (which one critic said was “crazy as hell”) and impressed at the Cannes 2024 Frontier Platform with the body horror “Above the Knee.”
“Spiral,” Courtney Roy’s follow-up to the well-received SXSW premiere “Cryptic,” is “a beautiful meditation on gender, time, and slime. There’s a lot of slime,” announced Dread Central. “Kat, the main character in ‘Spiral,’ embodies what I jokingly call the ‘non-self,'” Roy told Variety. “I imagine that there’s a repressed, terrifying version of me lurking somewhere inside me, ready to emerge at any moment.”
Six of the 13 titles have a “folk horror” theme. They are “Queen of Malacca”, “Anger”, “Olken”, “Balloon”, “Duppy”, and “Magai Gami”.
“The design of the Demon God, which is rooted in Japan’s unique religious iconography, fuses the sacred and the grotesque, creating a new form of creature horror for audiences around the world,” director Norihiro Niwazukino told Variety.
“Despite Jamaica’s global cultural influence, its folklore is rarely explored through the lens of cinematic horror,” said Duppy director Ajouan Isaac-George.
“I think people are no longer afraid to talk about demons and creatures that are part of their culture. Perhaps in the past it would have been laughed at as something stupid, but now they’re using it to tell stories that actually enlighten people around the world,” Marnert said.
However, filmmakers are tackling original traditional myths with completely different intentions in different types of films. The young protagonists of “Olken” and “Guppy” learn to accept what they consider to be monsters. In contrast, fantasy world belief systems such as the “Queen of Malacca” can be a source of subjugation of women.
Similarly, “many titles spotlight our society and human behavior and turn it into horror or play with the theme,” Marnert says.
Titles reflect the modern zeitgeist, whether it’s the sense of global turmoil in The Glorious Dead or the introduction to the mechanics of fascism in You’ve Been Chosen.
This year’s Cannes Frontière Platform also features a heartfelt and informative documentary feature charting how Jackie Chan’s cult films Cyprus Tigers and his Armor of God were filmed in Cyprus and Croatia respectively. It follows the irony. Hong Kong martial arts boomed in the early 1980s, coinciding with the spread of VHS, giving it an international platform, but it led to piracy and the martial arts boom waned.
Take a closer look at this year’s Frontières Platform titles:
buyer showcase
“Astrology” (David Gordon, USA)
It’s director Gordon’s feature debut, part psychological thriller, part creature horror, and “a modern reimagining of Maniac by director Ken Russell,” said Gordon, who has directed 14 features, including 2025. Astrolatory “seeks to satirize the ‘nice guy’ trope and toxic masculinity by positioning them as parallel phenomena that lead to the objectification of others.” Shudder original “825 Forest Road”. Elliot is played by Ethan Daniel Corbett (Faces).
“GRIND” (Peter Collins Campbell, USA)
A food delivery biker obsessed with hustle culture, determined to pay his rent in full in 24 hours, spends a cosmically terrifying night in Manhattan. Starring Jack Heaven, Janine Garofalo, Ivy Walk, Hari Nef, Elle P, and others. “We wanted to make a film that was irreverent to the rules of modern cinema that we grew up watching,” Collins-Campbell said. The first feature from Matty Matheson’s production company Banner, Super Athletic Company.
grind
“Queen of Malacca” (Anga Dwimas Sasonko, Indonesia)
A neo-noir action crime thriller with occult beats. Claresta Taufan, star of the Busan-winning film On Your Lap, plays Rafa, a victim-turned-perpetrator who seeks to rewrite fate in a world where a criminal empire is built on blood, fear, and ancient prophecies. Set in Southeast Asia’s urban areas, their underground worlds and spiritual subcultures, the film is “a bold cinematic journey that combines Southeast Asian mysticism, groundbreaking action, and deep human drama,” Sasongo told Variety.
“The Glorious Dead” (John Adams, Toby Poser, USA)
A small town sheriff (Poser) wakes up to discover that the world he believed in no longer exists. In short, it’s a sophisticated, nerve-wracking feature that resonates. “With the practical effects of fleshy-skinned monsters and the fetid pits they crawl through, this is a literal tale of hell on earth, told through one of the worst days in the life of small-town Americana,” said Toby Poser and John Adams, known and admired for “Hellbender” and “Where the Devil Prowls” in the architectural canon.
“Chasing the Cyprus Tigers” (Andreas Kiriakou, Cyprus, Croatia)
Interviewing the makers of Jackie Chan’s Cyprus Tigers, which was shot in Cyprus, and Armor of God, which was lensed in Croatia, including Hong Kong’s Sammo Hung, the film “reveals a forgotten film exchange network driven not by studios but by the video store boom,” says lead producer Stavros Papagiorgio. “This work captures an era of analogue discovery, when stories crossed borders in the most unexpected ways and left a lasting mark on a generation of filmmakers like me,” said Kiriakou.
“The Wrath” (Shane Putzlocher, Canada)
When Devin takes her new husband, Ben, to Koh Samui to film a documentary, the Thai folklore they’ve begun to explore becomes a horrifying reality. The film stars Tatum Jennings (The Last Time) and is directed by acclaimed producer Putzlocher. “Underneath its supernatural tension, Fury is ultimately a devastating love story, an exploration of how deeply love can anchor us and how violently it can break us free when threatened,” he told Variety.
proof of concept
“Olken” (Didier Konings, Netherlands)
From the team behind “Planet of the Apes” concept artists Konings and “Witte Wieven.” “The Netherlands has a wealth of folklore that is largely unexplored on film. Set in a famine-stricken medieval Netherlands, ‘Olken’ centers on shape-shifters. At its thematic core, the film explores our fears of others. What if the perceived threat begins to resemble us? What if the monsters aren’t as inhuman as we believe?” Producer Monique van Kessel says of Make Way. He said this on Film.
“Baldoon” (Gwynne Phillips and Brianna Templeton, Canada)
Phillips and Templeton, who starred in Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.” 1829. John and Nancy’s MacDonald farm is haunted by a mysterious force, putting their lives and sanity at risk. “It’s a horror comedy inspired by 19th century Canadian ghost stories,” Templeton said. “What we were interested in was not just the ghosts, but the women at the center of the story, and how a community can slowly turn someone into a legend, a villain,” added producer Nancy Molsky.
“Duppy” (Ajuan Isaac-George, UK, Jamaica)
A lonely 12-year-old girl, left with her grandparents in rural Jamaica, summons a desire for vengeance to take revenge on her strict grandmother, and unknowingly makes an unbreakable pact with a shape-shifting demon. Screening at Film London’s Production Finance Market in 2025. “This is a cinematic, visceral, character-driven horror in which a child’s desire for control unleashes something much scarier,” commented Ajouan Isaac-George. It was produced by UK-based My Accomplice in collaboration with Jamaica’s Mental Telepathy.
“Magai Gami” (Norihiro Niwazukino, Japan)
Rotterdam player Tsukino Niwa, who shocked the indie world with his bizarre historical erotic fantasy The Passion of the Shinobi, is now tackling J-horror with an expanded version of his short, which has been screened at around 10 festivals including Sitges, Fantasia and Fantasia, and was described as “creepy and effective” at Fantasia. A survival creature thriller set in a cursed forest ruled by a false god called Magaigami. Mr. Niwazukino explained that magaigami are monsters that disguise themselves as gods, deceive humans, and devour them. Manufactured and sold by ColorBird in Tokyo.
“Reading the Bones” (Oan Hostench, Spain)
After an accident, a young aspiring model falls into paranoia and revenge, reinventing herself as an ugly cult-like icon, but brutal retribution transforms her into a macabre work of art, more powerful in death than in life. “Inherited violence, origin as destiny, and immersion in identity as mask. It doesn’t unfold gently. It’s constricting, lingering, demanding,” Hostench said. Produced by Alplano Film, founded by “The Blue Star” producers Koke Serrano, Edurne San José Eraso and Juan Malcolm.
“Spiral” (Courtney Roy, Canada)
Potentially, it could be an intelligent rendition of a memorable world peppered with gore, much like “Kryptic.” Logline: “In the City of Lights, young artist Kat spirals into a pit of madness and mayhem, leaving a trail of bloody carnage in the elite art world where she longs for recognition. A sinister, satirical fable about art, ego, and the monsters that lurk in the dark depths of us all.” Developed by Telefilm Canada and produced, like “Kryptic,” by Amber Ripley of Goodbye Productions.
“You Are Chosen” (Villeharborg, Norway)
When Fredrik begins receiving anonymous letters with instructions to reward obedience and punish resistance, he is drawn into a brutal system that challenges both his free will and sense of responsibility. Following “Above the Knee,” this is a brutal “high-concept psychological thriller about how far you’re willing to go to belong,” Bo says, and an allegory for the recruitment mechanisms of fascism.
“You have been chosen.”
