Psychological horror feature Ancestral Beasts trailer
The psychological horror feature Ancestral Beasts has debuted its exclusive trailer via Variety ahead of its Fantasia International Film Festival world premiere on July 22. Métis writer-director Tim Riedel’s debut stars Morgan Holmstrom as Elyse, a young Métis woman stalked by a grotesque creature after returning home to focus on her mental health.
Key Takeaways
- Variety exclusively debuted the trailer for Ancestral Beasts ahead of its Fantasia world premiere on July 22, with a second screening on July 28.
- The film follows Métis woman Elyse, stalked by a grotesque creature after she returns to her ancestral home for her mental health.
- Métis writer-director Tim Riedel shot the nearly all-Indigenous cast and crew feature in Manitoba in late 2025.
- Mongrel Media has boarded Canadian distribution; a release date is not yet set, while U.S. distributors have expressed interest.
Horror fans tracking festival premieres and trailer drops can follow more Streaming & TV Alerts coverage as Ancestral Beasts enters the buyer conversation at Fantasia.
What is the psychological horror feature Ancestral Beasts about?
Ancestral Beasts centers on Elyse, a young Métis woman who returns to her ancestral home to focus on her mental health and is stalked by a grotesque creature. According to Variety’s exclusive report, the project prowled Cannes’ Marché du Film in 2025 as a Proof of Concept at Fantasia’s Frontières Platform.
It became the first acquisition for Cercamon’s new genre sales label Vorteks before emerging as a completed psychological horror feature. Riedel frames the theme around curses and what families inherit—mental health struggles that are not a person’s fault, yet often become their responsibility.
Morgan Holmstrom (Outlander) plays Elyse, and Asivak Koostachin (Duster) plays Cody. Riedel is hosting the Fantasia premiere with the stars plus key producers and crew.
When does Ancestral Beasts premiere at Fantasia?
The world premiere is set for July 22 at the Fantasia International Film Festival, with a rare second screening on July 28. Mongrel Media is handling Canadian distribution, though no release date has been announced.
Riedel and Vorteks’ David Kwok plan to push U.S. distributor talks at the festival. Riedel also teased his next genre feature, Nine Dying, which he described as closer to a community-driven thriller than hopeless torture fare.
Why does the creature matter in Ancestral Beasts?
Riedel says the creature is not drawn from specific Métis stories or Indigenous mythologies. He wanted an original image: a giant centipede with gnarled old hands for a head.
In his telling, the centipede evokes the homeland and dread, while the hand stands for intergenerational trauma passed down through generations. He also avoided clichés he feels Indigenous storytellers are pressured to include, focusing instead on Elyse’s journey, obstacles, and sacrifice.
The film was lensed in Manitoba in late 2025 with a nearly all-Indigenous cast and crew. Riedel, who spent more than a decade documenting underrepresented communities for NGOs, turned to his Métis roots after an elder challenged him to tell their stories—an impulse that shaped his feature debut.