Though this year’s South by Southwest Film & TV Festival was an abbreviated, seven-day affair, filmmakers still brought Austin’s clap-happy crowds an assortment of film and TV titles full of blood, laughter and tears to complement their tacos and barbecue.
It was a strong year for the SXSW headliners section, which is populated with studio-backed titles and celebrity names. Three of them made our best-of-fest list: Boots Riley’s Keke Palmer-led sci-fi comedy “I Love Boosters,” Jorma Taccone’s comedic thriller “Over Your Dead Body” starring Jason Segel and Samara Weaving and the horror comedy “They Will Kill You” from Kirill Sokolov, starring Zazie Beetz as its murderous heroine. Notice a theme? SXSW is best known for its love of gory humor.
SXSW officially added TV to its title and its list of priorities a few years back, and no series on the 2026 lineup justified that move more than “The Comeback.” Created by Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow, with Kudrow starring as a washed-up reality TV star, the world premiere of the third and final season after a decade-long hiatus was a welcome presence at the fest.
One the documentary front, our standout was Netflix’s “Noah Kahan: Out of Body,” soon to premiere on Netflix. Our other picks — “The Fox,” “Kill Me” and “Their Town” — are smartly written indies still seeking distribution.
For more on our offbeat favorites from the weirdest stop on the festival circuit, read on.
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The Comeback
Image Credit: Courtesy of HBO It’s been 11 1/2 years since “The Comeback” has blessed us with its presence, and for those of us who love it, that’s far too long. But seeing Season 3’s first two episodes in its premiere at the Paramount Theatre on March 16 did feel worth the wait. “The Comeback” — Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King’s brilliant creation — is like a comet that comes along every 10ish years, and this time, it will circle the Earth just one last time, when its third season premieres on HBO on March 22.
As always, the show finds Kudrow’s Valerie Cherish — a yearning sitcom star who’s never quite gotten what she wants — in a state of duress. This time, she’s been offered the leading role in the first TV comedy that’s been fully written by AI. Valerie worries about this … just a little. But then her ambition takes over, and she’s off to the races. (Read our full writeup of the premiere here.)
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The Fox
Olivia Colman as the voice a talking fox in an absurd Australian indie comedy should be enough to draw you in, but if it isn’t, stick around for Dario Russo’s excellent satire on the role of (heterosexual) marriage in a modern society and the things men and women expect from each other. When a man (Jai Courtney) devoted to his fiancée (Emily Browning) discovers that she’s been cheating on him, he throws her to the bottom of an impossibly deep and supposedly magical hole in the forest per the advice of Colman’s fox — whose ability to talk is questioned by no one, by the way. The attack is supposed to fix their relationship, but shocker: Strange, hilarious complications arise. Told like a folktale, “The Fox” was one of the festival’s most humble and delightful surprises.
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I Love Boosters
Image Credit: Courtesy of Neon Boots Riley is back, and according to some, he’s better. The “Sorry to Bother You” director and outspoken communist’s second film earned two big honors at this year’s SXSW: playing as the coveted opening night premiere slot and becoming the subject of Variety‘s first-ever SXSW issue cover story. The sci-fi comedy stars Keke Palmer in a jam-packed ensemble that also features Demi Moore, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Eiza González, Will Poulter, Don Cheadle and more, all in service of a candy-colored critique of capitalism that brought the Paramount Theatre to its feet. Catch it in theaters via Neon on May 22.
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Kill Me
It’s no surprise that “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” star Charlie Day excels at playing another hot mess of a man in his new indie movie. Still, he adds depth and complication to that streak in “Kill Me,” which sees his character Jimmy wake up with slit writs in a bloody bathtub and no memory of hour he got there. Both the cops and his family are convinced he attempted suicide, so Jimmy launches an investigation of his so-called attempted murder — and of his own mind — with little evidence besides his nasty apartment filled with takeout containers. From debut director Peter Warren, and boosted by a warm, sensitive supporting performance from Allison Williams, “Kill Me” is an addition to the growing wave of projects about mental health and self harm that actually has something new to say.
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Noah Kahan: Out of Body
Many of the major titles at SXSW this year involved gory fun, but Netflix’s Noah Kahan documentary, “Out of Body,” gave audiences a reason to cry. Director Nick Sweeney followed the Vermont singer-songwriter for nearly two years, chronicling his rise from tiny venues to headlining Fenway Park. The film finds Kahan at a moment of upheaval, as he copes with extreme fame, depression and body dysmorphia. But not to worry: There are also plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, as Kahan serves as the charismatic, self-effacing guide into his own life. Find it on Netflix on April 13.
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Over Your Dead Body
One of the major themes of SXSW was the horror comedy movie, something pulled off brilliantly by Samara Weaving and Jason Segel’s “Over Your Dead Body.” It was the perfect combination of horror and gore — a lot of gore, by the way — and included hilarious, brilliant supporting performances by Juliette Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Paul Guilfoyle and Keith Jardine. There’s also a surprise cameo in the finale scenes no one saw coming. Was it outrageous and over the top? 100%. Did it make the theater erupt in laughter from the beginning to end? Also 100%.
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Their Town
Written by frequent SXSW filmmaker Mark Duplass, directed by his wife Katie Aselton and starring their daughter Ora Duplass, with a handful of additional family members filling out the credits list, “Their Town” is a small-scale indie drama full of heart. Following two teenagers (Duplass and Chosen Jacobs) who reluctantly star in their high school play over the course of 24 hours, the film acts as a “Before Sunrise” spinoff for a generation of socially anxious, COVID-traumatized young people. And 21 years after the term “mumblecore” was coined at the 2005 edition of SXSW, the newest gem of the subgenre culminates in a truly moving final sequence that reminds us why we we go to film festivals.
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They Will Kill You
During a 10-minute speech introducing his horror-comedy headliner to the audience at the SXSW world premiere, co-writer and director Kirill Sokolov called lead actress Zazie Beetz “a warrior goddess, a force of nature in the shape of a woman, a demon slayer, the queen of tears and pain, and the coolest samurai.” Excessive? Sure. But after the screening, the crowd agreed. From “Atlanta” to “Joker,” Beetz has been delivering strong supporting performances for years, but the bloody, culty freakishness of “They Will Kill You,” releasing via Warner Bros. on March 27, finally gives her the lead role she’s proven she deserves.
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