FF ‘26: River and Beware Boiúna

Horror movies—and Jessica Rothe—took to the river at this year’s Fantastic Fest with the world premiere of Beware Boiúna and Texas premiere of the aptly named River. While Boiúna squanders its Amazon setting and big snake premise, River throws the audience into the deep end of carnage and thrills. 

For all its silliness, 1997’s Anaconda has stayed a cult classic by delivering on its promise of giant snakes and rainforest vibes without getting bogged down in the details. Boiúna, meanwhile, commits a fatal error in prioritizing plot over monster. Directed by Mike P. Nelson (whose Silent Night, Deadly Night reboot premiered at last year’s fest) with a screenplay by Alan B. McElroy, the film follows med student Alli (Rothe) as she embarks on a humanitarian mission in the Amazon rainforest, accompanied by fellow aid workers Callum (Will Close, who provides some levity as a dweeby Brit) and Miguel (Juan Pablo Shuk), and boat operator Lena (Kiana Madeira). The trip immediately goes awry after a misencounter with a group of looters, which in turn triggers the arrival of the titular Boiúna, an ancient and enormous serpent. 

Shot on-location in the Amazon and Colombia, Boiúna does a decent job of building atmosphere, immersing its characters in realistic conditions both on water and land. But the film buckles in its attempt to tackle settler colonialism and exploitation, pitting its characters against on-the-nose sociopolitical problems in addition to its creature of Brazilian mythology. Boiúna, shoddily CGied and poorly lit onscreen, becomes a sort of stand-in for indigenous resistance, as she metes out justice against people who infringe on her land (aka eats them). In smarter hands, this could be an interesting take: here, we’re treated to clunky exposition and nonsensical backstories, as scream queens Madeira and Rothe do their best with leaden dialogue and an overstuffed story.

River kicks off with a trauma dump that might be unnecessary but doesn’t overshadow the ensuing bloodbath. The feature debut from director Joshua Giuliano is set on a rural waterway, where three siblings have reconnected to scatter their father’s ashes. There’s Lucy (Jane Levy), the jaded middle child; sweet and sensitive youngest sibling Drew (Max Mattern); and Rothe again as Carla, their absentee older sister. Long-simmering resentment between Lucy and Carla explodes right about the same time their boat runs out of gas and two half-naked, flesh-masked strangers appear along the riverbank. 

Mattern provides much-needed comedic relief and Rothe is unexceptionable, but it’s Levy who makes the film, white-knuckling her way through an increasingly brutal game of cat-and-mouse with the strangers (Vanessa Reseland and the frightening 6’8” Dane DiLiegro). She’s a total force onscreen, moving from paralyzed fright to pure rage to, by the end of the movie, maniacal laughter as she fights back. Giuliano creates a genuinely freaky atmosphere on the river and on land, both with tension-building moments of stillness and gnarly attack scenes. It’s a lean and mean slasher that doesn’t fall into the typical modern horror trap of overexplaining its villains—they’re there to kill, and we’re here to watch.

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