World
Home Insurance Rates in America Are Wildly Distorted. Here’s Why.
Source: Keys and Mulder, National Bureau of Economic Research (2024)
Note: State average is shown in counties with few or no observations.
Enid, Okla., surrounded by farms about 90 minutes north of Oklahoma City, has an unwelcome distinction: Home insurance is more expensive, relative to home values, than almost anywhere else in the country.
Enid is hardly the American community that is most vulnerable to damaging weather. Yet as a share of home prices, insurance costs more in parts of Enid than in New Orleans, much of which is below sea level. More than in Paradise, Calif., which was destroyed by the Camp fire in 2018. More than in the Florida Keys, which are frequently wracked by hurricanes. Even more than in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where houses have begun slipping into the rising sea.
Enid’s plight reveals an odd distortion in America’s system of pricing home insurance. As a warming planet delivers increasingly damaging weather, the cost of home insurance has jumped drastically. But companies are charging some people, especially in the middle of the country and parts of the southeast, far more than other homeowners with similar levels of risk, an examination by The New York Times has shown.
Explore home insurance costs in your area with our interactive map.
Industry experts offer several reasons for the disparities, including the fact rural states have fewer homeowners to share risk, and states have varying rates of insurance fraud, which can drive up premiums.
But new research points to a striking pattern: Higher premiums are being charged in states where regulators apply less scrutiny to requests for rate increases, compared with states where officials question the justifications offered by companies and try to keep rates low, the data show.
The analysis is based on new data that make it possible for the first time to see what households pay for home insurance by county and ZIP code, across the United States. The average premium jumped 33 percent between 2020 and 2023, far more than the rate of inflation, the data show. But in some places, homeowners are paying more than twice as much for insurance, as a share of home value, than people who live elsewhere and face similar exposure to severe weather.
Sources: Keys and Mulder, National Bureau of Economic Research (2024); Zillow; FEMA; First Street Foundation.
Note: “Average premium as a share of home value” compares median home insurance premium in 2023 to Zillow’s typical home value estimate in each county. State average shown in counties with few or no observations.
As a result, America’s home insurance market is increasingly distorted, said Ishita Sen, a professor of finance at Harvard Business School who studies why insurance rates diverge from risk.
In communities where insurance rates exceed the actual risk, home ownership can be unaffordable. And in places where insurance prices are too low, it encourages people to move into homes in areas likely to be hit by wildfires or other disasters that could deliver financial ruin, Dr. Sen said.
The market is “incentivizing all sorts of crazy behavior,” she said.
Getting a detailed look at the cost of insurance in different parts of the United States has been almost impossible until now because private insurers don’t publicly disclose what they charge. But two researchers, Benjamin Keys, a professor of real estate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and Philip Mulder, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Business, found a workaround.
Homeowners often pay their insurance premiums together with their mortgage and property tax, through an escrow account. They make a single payment every month to a mortgage service company, which then pays the mortgage lender, the local government and the insurance company. The system is designed to ensure homeowners never miss a payment.
Working with CoreLogic, a property information and analytics company that collects data from mortgage servicers, the researchers obtained data for about 12.4 million of the nation’s roughly 80 million owner-occupied households. That data showed how much those households paid in escrow annually from 2014 through 2023. After deducting payments for mortgages, property tax and other fees, they could estimate what each household paid for property insurance.
Source: Keys and Mulder, National Bureau of Economic Research (2024) Note: Inflation-adjusted. Each line depicts the median of all loan observations within a risk group.
There is certainly a relationship between climate risk and what insurance companies charge for coverage in case of damage from extreme weather. But all kinds of other factors get in the way, causing a misalignment between risk and premiums.
In McCurtain County, Okla., for example, the typical homeowner paid an average of $2,837 for insurance. But in the same area with the same weather just across the state line, the average homeowner in Little River County, Ark., paid $1,673.
The cost of insurance is often higher for large, expensive homes because they cost more to replace. To get more accurate comparisons, Dr. Keys and Dr. Mulder looked at insurance costs as a share of the typical local home value.
Across the more than 9,000 ZIP codes for which data was available, the typical American household last year paid about $500 in home insurance premiums for every $100,000 of home value, or 0.5 percent, the professors found.
But in California, which suffered through more than 7,000 wildfires last year, the typical homeowner in many ZIP codes paid premiums as low as .05 percent of home value. By contrast, in parts of Alabama, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas, the average homeowner faced home insurance premiums greater than 2 percent of the value of local homes.
“Families with the same level of risk exposure pay wildly different amounts to protect themselves from harm,” Dr. Keys said. “Different prices for the same risk feels unfair.”
A visitor to Enid, population 50,000, would not recognize it as the riskiest spot in America to own a house. At the center of town is the Garfield County Courthouse, a handsome Art Deco structure built during the Great Depression, surrounded by a wide and inviting lawn. The square is ringed by storefronts offering cannabis, legal services and $500 cowboy boots.
The federal government designates Garfield County, which includes Enid and sometimes suffers hail storms and tornadoes, as having a “relatively low” level of risk. Yet the typical Enid homeowner spent $2,113 on home insurance last year, according to the researchers. That was 3.5 percent of the average home value of about $60,000 — more than six times the national average.
That high cost is taking its toll.
In 2019, Kelsey Keyworth bought her first house, a handsome pale-gray bungalow with a wood deck and white trim. She hoped to stay in the house until her son, who is now 13, finished high school. But despite never filing an insurance claim, her premiums jumped by 42 percent over three years. Ms. Keyworth, the membership director at Enid’s YMCA, decided to sell and move with her son into a rental home.
“It’s kind of heartbreaking,” Ms. Keyworth said on a recent afternoon at a coffee shop in Enid. “You’re like, gosh, I tried so hard to get here.”
Torrie Vann, the real estate agent who sold Ms. Keyworth’s house, said that since February, other clients had sold their homes because of rising insurance premiums. “They’re having to sell and buy something smaller,” she said.
Kelsey Keyworth in Champlin Park in Enid. Megann Johnson, agent and owner of Great Plains Insurance.
Home buyers, meanwhile, are reacting to rising premiums in Enid by settling for smaller houses than they planned, according to Jeff Shaffer, another Realtor in town. “People are having to buy down,” he said. “There’s a lot of sticker shock.”
Oklahoma is the sixth-most expensive state for home insurance. (The top five are Florida, New York, Louisiana, Colorado and Hawaii.) But measured as a share of home value, Oklahoma ranks third, behind Louisiana and Mississippi.
Along the edges of Oklahoma, the premium paid by the typical household last year was as much as 70 percent higher than in adjacent counties in Texas, Arkansas and Kansas — despite those counties having similar levels of exposure to disasters, according to federal data.
Megann Johnson is an insurance agent in Enid whose own home insurance premiums almost doubled, to $4,860 this year from $2,570 in 2021. She says her aunts, who sell insurance in nearby Kansas, tease her about what they call Oklahoma’s “stupid” high rates. “Our risk is the same, right?” Ms. Johnson said. “We’re 50 miles from the state line.”
Glen W. Mulready, Oklahoma’s elected insurance commissioner, has never exercised his power to deny a rate increase requested by an insurance company for home insurance. He said he believed that competition, not regulation, was the best way to hold down prices.
But that could be one important reason why Oklahoma homeowners with relatively low risk are paying high premiums, according to Dr. Sen.
In states where officials tightly control what insurance companies can charge, premiums tend to be priced below what they would be if they reflected the true likelihood of damage from storms, fires or other catastrophes, she and her co-authors found.
Source: Keys and Mulder, National Bureau of Economic Research (2024)
Note: “High regulation” and “lower regulation” categories from Oh, Sen and Tenekedjieva, Harvard Business School working paper (2022).
And Dr. Sen and her colleagues discovered something else.
After big losses in those tightly regulated states, such as California, national insurers tend to raise rates in more loosely regulated states. In other words, homeowners in states with weaker rules may be overpaying for insurance, effectively subsidizing homeowners in states with tougher rules, she said.
If California makes it especially hard for insurers to increase premiums, Oklahoma makes it much easier.
Mr. Mulready defended his approach, saying it’s not his role to stop private insurance companies from raising rates in Oklahoma.
“We allow the competitive free market to work,” he said in an interview. If national companies raised rates in Oklahoma to make up losses in states like California, they would lose business to local insurers, Mr. Mulready said.
But Dr. Sen said her research suggests the home insurance market is far less competitive than it might seem. After choosing an insurer, people often stick with that same company, even if their premiums go up, she said.
Three insurers — State Farm, Farmers, and Allstate — collectively wrote more than half of all home insurance in Oklahoma last year. A spokesman for Allstate, Michael Passman, said in a statement that “we do not raise rates in one state to offset losses in another.” State Farm and Farmers did not respond to questions. Allstate is publicly traded; State Farm and Farmers are not. (Farmers’ parent company, Zurich Insurance Group, is traded on the Swiss exchange.)
Allstate and State Farm reported a profit in their life insurance divisions last year but losses in property and casualty insurance left them in the red companywide, according to AM Best, a company that rates the financial strength of insurers. Farmers also lost money in its property and casualty insurance operations, which include home insurance, but it’s not clear if its overall business turned a profit.
Homes in Enid. Oklahoma’s current insurance commissioner has never blocked an insurers’ rate increase.
There are some other possible explanations for why insurance companies charge wildly different rates in places facing similar threats.
Insurance can be more expensive in smaller, more rural states, where there are fewer households to share the risk, said Karen Collins, a vice president at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, which represents insurance companies. Some states require higher minimum levels of coverage, which makes policies more expensive. And fraudulent claims, which end up increasing premium costs, can be more prevalent in some locations than others, she said.
Reinsurance is another reason. The price of reinsurance (effectively, insurance purchased by insurance companies to make sure they can cover losses) has spiked in recent years. Companies buy different amounts in different parts of the country and pass those costs onto homeowners.
A fourth factor is whether a state has a government-mandated, high-risk pool of insurance designed for homeowners who cannot find private coverage. Research suggests those pools, which are available in about two-thirds of states, can lower private insurance premiums. Oklahoma has no such risk pool, though creating one would “certainly pull down rates,” Mr. Mulready said. The question for lawmakers, he added, is “whether that’s the role of government.”
Explaining the distortions in the insurance market is perhaps easier than fixing them.
United Policyholders, a nonprofit group that advocates for consumers, said the fact that some households pay more for insurance than others, despite having the same level of risk, underlined the need for regulators to demand more transparency about how insurers set rates.
That discrepancy in rates “is certainly not fair,” said Emily Rogan, a senior program officer at United Policyholders. She said customers need to know what data insurers collect on them, so that they have the opportunity to contest information that may be inaccurate.
Forrest Bennett is an insurance agent in Oklahoma City and a Democratic state lawmaker. He said the challenge his state faced was how to protect the average homeowner from high premiums without causing insurers to flee because they can’t turn a profit, as has happened in California.
Mr. Bennett praised a new state program that gives homeowners money to install hail-resistant roofs, which he hopes will lower premiums. But he said enacting broader reforms to address the cost of disasters “requires people to accept that climate change is real.”
The rising cost of home insurance is “where climate change meets the average American’s pocketbook,” Mr. Bennett said. “We are trending toward a place where it’s not sustainable.”
Covington, Okla., just south of Enid. Oklahoma is one of the most expensive states for home insurance.
Last fall, the Senate Budget Committee began investigating rising insurance rates and how underwriters are responding to the growing dangers of extreme weather.
“Climate havoc” is pushing up insurance costs and risks upending “housing markets, mortgage markets, and local property tax bases, and spilling out into the broader economy,” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island and the committee’s chairman, said at a hearing on the issue in June. He warned that climate change threatens the stability of the insurance market and, by extension, the economy, in a way that “sounds eerily reminiscent of the run-up to the mortgage meltdown of 2008.”
And even in places where insurance costs remain relatively flat, the disconnect between premiums and actual risk is cause for concern, Dr. Keys said. As climate change gets worse, those insurance costs will eventually rise, and possibly quickly, he said — hurting home values, shocking some homeowners and destabilizing real estate.
“I personally think we’re in a lot of trouble,” Dr. Keys said. “This should be ringing alarm bells for housing markets all over the country.”
Edited by Lyndsey Layton and Douglas Alteen Additional visual editing: Claire O’Neill and Matt McCann
Methodology
Home insurance cost map: Keys and Mulder calculated annual homeowners insurance costs by separating mortgage and tax payments from loan-level escrow data obtained from CoreLogic. Households whose payments were captured by CoreLogic were not necessarily present in all years of data from 2014 to 2023.
Climate risk map vs. insurance costs as a share of home value map: Risk percentiles are based on a combination of FEMA’s National Risk Index expected annual loss rates per dollar of building value for hail, heat and cold waves, ice storms, lightning, strong winds, tornadoes, volcanic activity and winter weather. Wildfire and hurricane risk data came from First Street Foundation, which separates flood risk out of their hurricane risk score. Flooding is typically covered by the National Flood Insurance Program and less likely to be reflected in the escrow-based data.
State regulation charts: Risk scores use the composite FEMA and First Street Foundation risk scores. Categorization of “high regulation” and “low regulation” states come from analysis of requested and approved rate filings from Oh, Sen and Tenekedjieva (2022), where “lower regulation” includes both low and medium friction states. Regulation analysis was conducted on rate filing requests from 2009 to 2019. The charts use a loess regression to visualize the overall trend. “High regulation” states include California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
World
Frontières 2026: Lineup and Highlights from a Zombie Wedding to Thai Folk Horror Noir and a Half-Body Filipino Vampire
Thailand’s supernatural folk horror “Cher,” romantic zombie comedy “Cold Feet” and “Third Wheel,” a bridal party-set psychological thriller look like potential wild rides among projects at this year’s Frontières genre pic Co-Production Market, packing one of its highest caliber lineups ever.
They are joined by other potential standouts such as “My Missing Half,” headed by a half-bodied Filipino vampire, and the return of multi-prized Mexican filmmaker Isaac Ezban and Swiss-American doc maker Alexandre O. Philippe.
Many more titles also look enticing. Meanwhile, Frontières submissions have climbed to an all-time record of 136 for the Market and 58 for its Shorts to Features strand. Frontières Platform has run for years at Cannes, selling out in 2026. Among festivals, Berlin, TIFF and Tokyo’s Tiffcom are all adding Frontières project showcases this year.
This strength and strength in depth is a sign of the times, argues Frontières executive director Annick Mahnert.
“It’s a pretty extraordinary year for genre, to be honest,” Mahnert says. “A little film, ‘Obsession,’ suddenly makes millions at the box office, and ‘Undertone” acquired by A24 last year out of Fantasia, became another success story.”
“Studios are starting to realize that a movie doesn’t need to have a studio budget to become a crowd pleaser,” she adds. “I have Searchlight and Focus Features coming to Frontières. I never had these types of studios before. And five genre films won Oscars and the Berlinale and Cannes screened multiple genre films across all sections.”
So Frontières is “going back to basics,” Mahnert says, focusing on “the new generation of filmmakers. We’re looking for these little gems.”
10 of the 20 projects in Fantasia-Frontières’ official selection this year are first features.
However small, titles can still come loaded with stars or prizes. “Cher” packs a powerful Thai star punch of Mim Rattanawadee Wongthong, who broke out in hit horror franchise “Death Whisperer,” plus Pae Arak and Weir Sukollawat, stars of box office smash ““4 Tigers.”
Already a buzz project in the build up to Frontiéres, “My Missing Half” is now a big winner at South Korea’s Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN), scoring its Asian Discovery Award and the Badclay VFX Innovation Award on July 9.
“My Missing Half” leads an ever stronger Asian presence at Frontières. “As the world is opening up now and opportunities are opening, more and more countries are looking for either investors or co-producers outside of Asia,” says Mahnert.
Also, and suddenly it seems, multiple titles’ creators or producers have already won recognition, often in more traditional spheres. “Echoes” is executive produced by Kath Shelper whose “Samson and Delilah” won Cannes Camera d’Or for best first feature.
“It Takes a Circus,” from Zoe Rameshu, director of “Third Wheel,” was nominated for the 48th Academy Awards. Her “To the Plate” was shortlisted for a student BAFTA.
“My Missing Half” is produced by the Philippines’ This Side Up which scooped a Sundance Special Jury Prize with “Leonor Will Never Die.”
“The Great Canada Day Massacre” marks Elza Klephart’s follow-up to “Slaxx,” which premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Canadian Feature and became Shudder’s No. 3 best ranked film of 2021.
Calabrian Rhode, behind “Ring Leader” at Frontières, produced Netflix Original romantic comedy “The Royal Treatment,” which bowed No. 1 worldwide on the streaming service in Jan. 2022.
Horror has even become part of soft power. “True horror reveals the heart of a culture, and as part of the new generation of storytellers in Asia, we are proud to empower Thai filmmakers to bring our local folklore onto the world’s cinematic stages,” says “Cher” producer Hans Audric Estialbo, CEO of Fearfolks, also the film’s sales agent.
A closer look at titles at this year’s Frontières Co-Production Market:
“Any Means Necessary”
Director: George Mihalka
Producer: Cream Productions
The U.S. had Roger Corman, Canada has had, among others, Cinépix. “Any Means Necessary” pays tribute, directed by Mihalka, who helmed its classic My Blood Valentine. Promising interviews with Eli Roth and Slash, the premium doc feature explores how Cinépix launched careers – Cronenberg, Ivan Reitman, battled censorship, sparked boffo box office with its erotica and broadened the boundaries of genre. “‘Any Means Necessary’ is our opportunity to celebrate the films that changed genre cinema and the fearless visionaries who made them possible,” says creator-producer Susan Curran.
“Aurora Comes Home” (Canada)
Director: Gloria Mercer
Producer: Pink Buffalo Films
Produced by Vancouver’s Pink Buffalo and set in rural Northern Canada where a family unravels after the sudden, mysterious disappearance of their daughter. An eerily familiar woman arrives 18 months later. “A tense, intimate take on the alien abduction story” which “marries science fiction spectacle and grounded character drama to tell the story of a woman who faces immeasurable loss and finds the courage to move forward,” Mercer says.
“Birth,” (Estonia)
Director: Oskar Lehemaa
Producer: Stellar Film
The live action feature debut of animation star Oskar Lehemaa, selected for Sundance with “Bad Hair” and a Fantasia winner for “The Old Man Movie.” Edson Jean, behind “Sea Sprits, directed social realist “Ludi,”which world premiered at SXSW.
From Stellar Film, behind Lehemaa’s 2020 Sundance-selected “Bad Hair” and Göteborg 2024 standout “The Missile. Desperate to have a child, a couple travels to a fertility rite deep in the Estonian forest – only to realize they’ve been lured there to be sacrificed. A film that “merges the unsettling power of body horror with the intimacy of a relationship drama,” says producer Evelin Pentillá at Stellar.
“Cher,” (Thailand)
Director: Songsak Mongkolthong
Producer: Benetone Films, Fearfolks
Cop Jade investigates a vine-covered corpse near a remote mining camp encroaching sacred forestland, clashing with estranged brother Joe. As rumours build of a vengeful Thai forest spirit a mysterious young woman appears. One of Frontières’ buzz titles, helmed by Mongkolthong (“School Tales The Series”), from Benetone (“Perfect Girl”) and Fearfolks, distributor in Thailand of A24’s “Backrooms” and Neon’s “Hokum,2 and from a screenplay by Patrick Graham, the writer behind Netflix’s Indian horror series “Ghoul” and “Betaal.”
“Cold Feet,” (Czech Republic, France, Poland, India)
Director: Apoorva Satish
Producer: Off Beat Films (Czech Republic) Telemark (Poland), Ici et Là Productions (France), La Sutra Pictures (India)
At their Czech–Indian wedding, Jacob and Mia’s tradition-hungry guests unexpectedly begin transforming into flesh-eating monsters. To make it out alive, the couple must keep choosing each other, even as everyone tries to tear them apart, literally. “At its heart [“Cold Feet”] is an interracial couple reclaiming their relationship from everyone convinced they know what their love should look like,” Satish tells Variety.
“Delivery” (Mexico)
Director: Isaac Ezban
Producer: Red Elephant Films, Sin Sentido Films
The latest from multi-prized Mexican filmmaker Isaac Ezban (“The Incident,” “The Similars,” “Parvulos”), a time travel sci-fi road movie and “my most personal project yet.”
A lonely trucker meets an abandoned girl in a border town. Fate, or something more sinister, will set them on an unexpected road trip, with devastating consequences. “My most personal project yet. A story about the contrasts of our existence…the borders we create in our relationships…and the one theme that has always that has always defined my work: the passage of time,” Ezban tells Variety.
“Grandmonster” (“Bestemorder,” Norway)
Director: Vegard Dahle
Producer: Syden Pictures
“While trying to save her grandmother from dementia, an American dropout triggers a zombie outbreak at a remote Norwegian nursing home. “The scariest part of ‘Grandmonster’ isn’t the zombies, it’s watching someone you love gradually disappear. We use zombie horror as a metaphor for dementia, and as a vehicle for satire about a healthcare system that treats the elderly as a liability rather than a legacy,” says Dahle.
A Sitges 2025 FanPitch winner.
“The Great Canada Day Massacre,” (Canada)
Director: Elsa Kephart
Producer: GPA Films
“Gory and entertaining” but also “deeply political,” says Kephart. Becca, a fierce climate activist, returns to her hometown, uncovering a secret deal to sell the protected Conservancy Forest and a string of gruesomely patriotic murders targeting those involved. What sets “Massacre” apart? “Hilariously gruesome deaths by iconic Canadian objects! Think about the damage moose antlers or a 20kg curling stone can do!” Klephart argues.
“Gro(ceries)” (U.K.)
Director: Sophie King
Producer: Five by Five Films
Headedand co-writtenby “Sex Education” star Chinenye Ezeudu-Sterling, and billed as a dark horror comedy and a “bold vision that reinvents vampire mythology through a distinctly contemporary lens,” say producers Rosanna Eden-Ellis and Catherine Joy White. Gro, raised by vampires, discovers she’s something far worse: human, since adopted. Her desperate attempt to transform and be like her family unleashes a blood-soaked reckoning over who she really is.
“The Fall,” (U.S., France)
Director: Alexandre O. Philippe
Producer: Medianoche Productions (U.S.),
“In the final seconds of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’, Judy falls to her death, but Hitchcock never shows us how, keeping his camera locked on a 57-frame close-up of Scottie’s face. “‘The Fall’ is a forensic investigation into cinema’s most elusive image: the missing moment at the heart of Hitchcock’s greatest mystery.” “I’m not trying to solve the riddle at the end of Vertigo, I want to inhabit it, and to follow what happens when some of the greatest filmmakers alive stare into an image that refuses to resolve,” says O’Philippe.
“Humpty: American Dream,” (U.S., Canada)
Director: Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky
Producer: With Pleasure Cinemagroup (U.S.), Ghoul Nexus (Canada)
An off-kilter biopic spoof with eye-catching concept art. To save his kidnapped wizard father, Humpty leaves his enchanted forest for the plague-ridden Kingdom of Orange County, sees a meteoric rise in popularity but internal existential crisis. “Though unlike Bruce Springteen, Mark Kerr and J. Robert Oppenheimer, Humpty is an alcoholic egg with no genitals. It’s like if Tinto Brass directed ‘Shrek,’” its directors say.
“Injured Reserve,” (Canada)
Director: Tyler Mckenzie Evans
Producer: Area V5 Pictures and Still Good Pictures
Teresa is an 18-year-old Black basketball prodigy, raised on the court by Darius, her coach and single father. Basketball is their only language and Teresa’s only identity. Then a mysterious new player and a career-threatening injury sidelines Teresa. “At the heart of ‘Injured Reserve,’ is a universal fear: What happens when the one thing that defines you is suddenly taken away?’ ask its filmmakers Mckenzie Evans, Malachi Ellis and Claire Desmarais.
“The Mire,” (“Suonsilmä, Finland)
Director: Marika Harjusaari
Producer: Silva Mysterium Oy (Finland), Hobab (Sweden), Handmade Films in Norwegian Woods (Norway), Mistrus Media (Latvia)
Written by Ilona Ahti, the scribe on Alli Haapasalo’s 2022 Sundance Audience Award winner “Girl Picture,” and produced by Silva Mysterium Oy, behind Sundance and sales hit “Hatching.” In a remote Finnish 19th century village, milkmaid Iiris leaves unwanted newborns to die in a nearby swamp until, torn between old-world ritual and newfound faith, when a forward-looking pastor arrives, she finally rebels. “I think communities often survive by deciding who will carry what everyone else cannot – the Mire asks what happens when that person can no longer carry it,” says Harjusaari.
“My Missing Half,” (Philippines, Japan)
Director: Rodiell Veloso
Producer: This Side Up
Boldly genre bending Philippine folk horror as a manananggal – a Philippine vampire who can disengage from its lower half – becomes the heroine of a darkly comedic horror movie alongside other misfits. “While embracing outrageous humor and supernatural adventure, the film explores universal themes of identity, body image, shame, self-acceptance, and belonging,” the filmmakers said in a statement.
“Ring Leader,” (U.S., Canada)
Director: Jason Lapeyre
Producer: Calabrian Rhode (U.S:), Osaka Sunset Pictures (Canada)
A codependent and unstable bridesmaid attends her best friend’s remote bachelorette party only to find herself in a claustrophobic social death match where toxic friendship and bridal performance devolve into carnage. “‘Ring Leader’ will be a wildly entertaining horror-comedy that cuts to the heart of the vicious power dynamic between female friends and the cultish roots of wedding rituals. It’s ‘Bridesmaids’ meets ‘Ready or Not’ and we’re out for blood,” promises Lapeyre.
“They,” (U.K.)
Director: Faye Jackson
Producer: True Moon Pictures
After renting a room to a conspiracy theorist, a skeptical gardener begins to fear he might be right as the dead colonize her home, demanding her submission to an ancient cult. “‘They’ sidesteps the politics of conspiracy theories to examine the underlying fear. What if it’s not only true, but worse than you can possibly imagine? They are watching you. They do want to control you. The algorithm is ancient,” says writer-director Jackson of “They.”
“Third Wheel,” (South Africa, the Netherlands)
Director: Zoe Ramushu
Producer: (PRPL, Totem Zea)
At her white adoptive family’s estate, Thina (26), a Black surgeon straddling two worlds, prepares for her wedding with a woke Black fiancé and her white adoptive sister – her best friend. But at a boozy weekend devotion twists into possession. A wedding is “the day you’re supposed to publicly declare who you are and who you belong to… and that can become a nightmare. Literally,” Zamushu tells Variety.
“Violent Delights”
Director: Jack Warren
Producer: Cellar Door Cinema Club
A trans boy and a cannibal girl fall in love, then fight for survival against her homicidal family. From New York, L.A. and Dublin-based Cellar Door, “filled with cannibal kills conceived to impress the most hardened gore fiends, the film forefronts character while telling a terrifying love story about the dangerous thrill of being consumed by desire,” says Warren.
Shorts to Features
“Echoes,” (Australia)
Director: Gemma Lee
Producer: Magic Hour
A neural engineer trapped inside a time loop of his own creation races to save his dying wife before every memory of her is erased forever. “‘Echoes’ asks how far we would go to hold onto the person we love, knowing we must eventually let them go. It explores love not as idealised devotion, but as something raw, imperfect and profoundly human,” Lee tells Variety. Currently financing attached as exec producer with a proof of concept short.
“Eternal Valley,” (U.K.)
Director: Jasmine De Silva
Producer: Runner Up Films
A darkly comedic body horror pic from De Silva, a makeover of proof-of-concept “Beauty Sleep,” described by Rue Morgue as “biting and hilarious.” When the first place beauty queen commits suicide, her best friend, in order to win the pageant, starts to wear the dead friend’s face. “Set in a sugar coated yet sinister and retro-futuristic world, ‘Eternal Valley’ amplifies that there always has been, and always will be, an unattainable beauty standard to chase,” says De Silva.
“Noodles, Our Love Was Instant and Forever,” (Philippines)
Director: Whammy Alczaren
Producer: Daluyong Studios
As climate doom looms and reality becomes nightmare fantasy, a chaotic circle of queer teenage boys plan for a cosmic future laced with aliens, ghosts, and immaculate conceptions. “Internet culture – brainrot, vines, and Tik-tok — will marry traditional techniques such as rear projection, practical effects, and tableau staging,” promises Alczaren. “The film is a cinematic love letter to resilience, queer joy, and the small acts of care that persist amid collapse,” he adds.
“Reset,” (U.S.)
Director: Celine Tien, Jerry Hsu
Producer: SPL Max Productions
From Tien, founder of Flowly, an NIH-backed VR healthtech company, and Hsu, a Yale computer science student. In a near-future where the elderly are physically reset into children to remain economically useful, a young woman becomes the reluctant caretaker of her newly reset mother. “Having built careers across AI, healthcare, and film, we set that story in a near future shaped by automation because we’ve seen these systems from the inside,” say Tien and Hsu.
“Sea Spirits,” (“Lespri Lanmè,” U.S., Jamaica)
Director: Edson Jean
Producer: Bantufy, Full Spectrum
Described as Gothic folk horror, “Sea Sprits” turns on a guilt-ridden mother living amid social and political upheaval, who haunted by her daughter lost at sea refuses to leave the country so as to search for her ghost. “With Sea Spirits, we return the zombie to its Haitian spiritual origins through motherhood, migration, and the horrors history leaves behind,” Jean tells Variety.
‘XX’
“XX,” (Netherlands)
Director: Nina Noël Raaijmakers
Producer: Make Way Film
Up-and-coming scream queen Roxy undergoes an unauthorized uterus transplant after a freak accident on a B-horror film set. But the uterus begins to rot on the misogynistic film set, taking on a life of its own. A visceral body horror with grounded practical effects, which pictures Roxy trapped between “the exploitative film industry and the paternalistic medical system,” From Monique van Kessel’s Dutch genre mainstay Make Way Film, “XX” scored a Sitges WomanInFan Special Mention in 2025.
“You Were Never Here,” (Austria, Canada)
Director: Johannes Grenzfurthner
Producer: Monochrom (Austria), Sunsmasher, Ghoul Nexus (Canada)
At a remote research facility, people from across human history briefly materialize every four minutes and 56 seconds – bamboozling scientists and officials. “The film combines hard science fiction, institutional absurdity and existential dread, but it is ultimately about people trapped inside a system that can measure almost everything except its own meaning,” says Johannes Grenzfurthner.
Genre Film Lab
“Loup-Garou,” (Canada)
Director: Nathalie Therriault
Producer: Latchkey Pictures
From Therriault and her Vancouver-based Latchkey Pictures, a “fresh, deeply personal take on a classic myth, blending historical authenticity with emotional realism,” says Therrialt, talking of the loup-garou, the French version of the werewolf. In this folk horror, set in 1917 rural Québec, during the sacred season of Lent, two farmers’ wives navigate their long-hidden love as the community spirals into hysteria over a loup-garou killing sinful men.
Lauren Marsden
“Severed,” (Canada)
Director: Lauren Marsden
Producer: Ecstatic Time Productions
Visiting her extended family in a Caribbean village, a biracial teenager discovers a severed colonial statue head that curses the community with unrelenting sickness, forcing her to confront the island’s haunted past before it destroys everything she loves.
“The horror unfolds amidst bubbling mud volcanos, chaotic night markets, pulsing island rhythms, and the ever-present hypnotic dread of the sea,” Marsden promises.
“Stacy’s Mom,” (Canada)
Director: Marushka Jessica Almeida
Producer: Cult Following Pictures
Repressed teenager Yoko discovers that the hot MILF who’s just moved in next door is actually a soul-sucking succubus, pushing her to navigate a budding romance with Stacy and save herself and her father’s soul. Selected for the QueerFrames 2025 Screenwriting Lab Presented by Netflix and “angry, erotic and gay AF,” says Almeida.
“To the North,” (Canada)
Director: Jean Parsons
Producer: Ceroma
Francine, an isolated homesteader, lives trapped in a dead marriage. Suddenly her partner goes missing and she finds a strange man unconscious in the woods, who unleashes repressed desires – and a growing fear that her new lover might be her husband’s killer. “Set in the forbidding grandeur of the subarctic Yukon, “To The North” is about sex, nature, the messiness of desire, and how humans often pursue the things they want against all better judgment,” Parsons tells Variety.
“Wifey,” (Canada)
Director: Cassidy Civiero
Producer: True Sweetheart Films
Set up at Montreal’s True Sweetheart, behind fest hit “The Rebrand,” “Wifey” turns on Mara, on the cusp of transitioning female-to-male, who is seduced by a rural f*ckboy, Jack. A seemingly harmless fling turns sinister…. “‘Wifey’ is a manifestation of the surreal shift that can come with transitioning FTM, and is part of the next wave of trans cinema,” Civiero tells Variety.
Israeli civilians train for next terror attack
Watch Israeli civilian defenders rehearse responding to a simulated terrorist infiltration designed to prepare border communities for another Oct. 7-style terrorist attack. (Video: Amelie Botbol for Fox News Digital.)
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ISRAEL-GAZA BORDER: “Fire, fire, fire!” shouts a member of Kibbutz Bror Hayil’s local security squad, pointing his weapon at a fellow participant acting as a terrorist. The kibbutz is located adjacent to the Gaza border, from where thousands of Hamas-led Palestinians invaded Israel and massacred some 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023.
The exercise, attended by Fox News Digital, was the eighth training session conducted by Magen48 in partnership with the Israel Defense Forces — a full-scale drill involving the local civilian defense squad designed to prepare southern Israeli communities for scenarios similar to Oct. 7.
One of the scenarios simulated terrorists infiltrating the kibbutz kindergarten. With IDF forces en route, the civil defense squad had to respond while accounting for the presence of children, limited visibility and the need to neutralize the attackers while ensuring a safe evacuation. During the exercise, a simulated grenade detonated, injuring one member of the civil defense squad in the leg, while the others succeeded in neutralizing the terrorists.
HAMAS SAYS IT WILL DISSOLVE GAZA GOVERNMENT, BUT ISRAEL WARNS GROUP STILL SEEKS HEZBOLLAH-STYLE CONTROL
A member of Kibbutz Bror Hayil’s civil defense squad runs to respond to the simulated terror infiltration in Kibbutz Bror Hayil, July 8, 2026. (Amelie Botbol for Fox News Digital)
In earlier sessions, participants learned to operate weapons from behind cover while sitting, lying down, standing and moving. They are also trained to work in pairs and larger groups while developing communication skills. The exercises grew increasingly complex, with teams conducting drills inside buildings and responding to continuous emergency alerts.
Because the exercise took place inside a civilian community, no live ammunition was used. All weapons and equipment were secured to prevent accidental discharge. Residents were notified in advance of the drill.
Among the 47 participants were IDF soldiers and medical personnel from the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade.
Magen48 instructor T., who could not reveal his full name for security reasons, said the Bror Hayil program initially presented significant challenges.
This image made from undated bodycam video footage taken by a downed Hamas terrorist and released by the Israel Defense Forces, shows a Hamas terrorist walking around a residential neighborhood at an undisclosed location in southern Israel. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)
“The civil defense squad was made up of soldiers who had served in special forces alongside others who had never held combat roles in the military. Some were issued weapons they had never used during their service. Training begins with weapons familiarization, covering the basics of firearm operation and how to manipulate the weapon’s safety mechanisms,” he said.
One lesson drawn from Oct. 7 was that many members of civilian security squads responded alone. “Whoever ran alone was not able to fend off terrorists,” T. said, explaining that the training emphasizes locating another squad member before engaging whenever possible.
“The idea behind this project is to establish a unified operational language, so that if an incident occurs, nearby communities can join the response and coordinate effectively,” he said.
ISRAEL FORTIFIES BORDER WITH JORDAN AS IRAN SEEKS NEW TERROR PATH
“The idea is that they are able to manage the event until forces arrive, then hand over control in an orderly manner while continuing to work together. They know the kibbutz, they work well as teams and they have undergone high-quality training that sharpened their skills.”
Magen48, established in July 2024 and named for the 48 first responders killed on Oct. 7, has trained 1,500 civilians to respond to life-threatening emergencies, equipping them with the knowledge, skills and resources to contend with scenarios such as terrorist attacks, medical emergencies and fires.
Participants to Magen48’s drill in Kibbutz Bror Hayil respond to a simulated terrorist infiltration inside the kibbutz’s kindergarten, July 8, 2026. (Amelie Botbol for Fox News Digital)
Counterterrorism expert Ehud Dribben, who has 30 years of experience in the field, co-founded the organization with Ari Briggs and Mike Aron. As the three began planning to create a training facility, the IDF approached them to develop a program providing each of the 67 Gaza Envelope communities with 12 full training days annually. To date, Magen48 has conducted more than 550 training sessions.
The training exercise began with the community command center issuing an alert about eight terrorists infiltrating the kibbutz, prompting members of the civil defense squad to mobilize to their assigned defensive positions.
Briggs and Dribben designed the exercise around five key locations where the defense squad would ultimately need to concentrate its forces. Response times are measured, and every step — from alerting residents to engaging the terrorists and evacuating casualties — is closely monitored.
“The reports that emerged after Oct. 7 showed that civilian first responders were incredibly brave. They were prepared to do anything to protect their families, friends and communities, but they were not trained adequately and lacked the equipment they needed,” Briggs said.
Hamas terrorists killed civilians, including women, children and the elderly, when they attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces via AP)
“Strong, well-trained civilian response teams don’t just improve security — they help bring communities back together, strengthen resilience and ensure these towns grow and have an amazing future,” he added.
Retired British Col. Richard Kemp, who observed the training exercises, said the primary objective is to prevent another Oct. 7.
“I was in the British army for 30 years, so I understand the importance of defense and security for a country like Israel,” he told Fox News Digital. “If you know that your enemy has a capability of any sort to endanger you, you have to be ready to deal with that capability through the kind of work that Magen48 is doing.”
Memorials at the site of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im, Israel, on May 27, 2024. (Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images )
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Kemp called the drill one of the most complex exercises he had witnessed.
“It’s really important that these drills take place to give the local community confidence that its security is a top priority and that forces are doing everything they can to prepare for another terrorist attack like the one we saw on Oct. 7,” he said.
Hungary’s parliament has approved a constitutional amendment to remove President Tamás Sulyok from office, with Prime Minister Péter Magyar accusing him of being Orbán’s puppet. But he refuses to resign and argues the move in unconstitutional. What happens next? Euronews explains:
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