Ryan O’Rourke

Published Sep 11, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT

Ryan O’Rourke is a Senior News Writer at Collider with a specific interest in all things adult animation, video game adaptations, and the work of Mike Flanagan. He is also an experienced baseball writer with over six years of articles between multiple outlets, most notably FanSided’s CubbiesCrib. Whether it’s taking in a baseball game, a new season of Futurama or Castlevania: Nocturne, or playing the latest From Software title, he is always finding ways to show his fandom. When it comes to gaming and anything that takes inspiration from it, he is deeply opinionated on what’s going on. Outside of entertainment, he’s a graduate of Eureka College with a Bachelor’s in Communication where he honed his craft as a writer. Between The IV Leader at Illinois Valley Community College and The Pegasus at Eureka, he spent the majority of his college career publishing articles on everything from politics to campus happenings and, of course, entertainment for the student body. Those principles he learned covering the 2020 election, Palestine, and so much more are brought here to Collider, where he has gleefully written on everything from the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to Nathan Lane baby-birding sewer boys.

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Religion and horror are often perfect partners, with the latter capable of twisting ideas of control, fanaticism, and the meaning of faith into nightmares that hit close to home. Classics like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist ran with those themes to Oscar gold, but a wide range of acclaimed films have emerged from the subgenre over time, from Carrie with its depiction of life under a tyrannical parent, to more under-the-radar hits like Saint Maud, following a religious devotee who delusionally believes herself on a mission from God. At this year’s Fantastic Fest, The Ones Who Grieve will tap into those same themes in its North American premiere as it whisks viewers back to a plague-ridden France in the tail end of the 19th century. As part of Collider’s Exclusive Preview series, we’re excited to share a new image ahead of its arrival that illustrates the horrifying influence of fanaticism at such a dark time.

The Ones Who Grieve unfolds in the French countryside, which has been ravaged by a mysterious disease known only as The Black Veil. In the middle of the bleak reality is Zélie, a 17-year-old girl living in a household ruled with an iron fist by her deeply devout father, Jacob. A self-styled “Masker,” he subjects the sick and dying to brutal, inhumane purification rituals involving imprisoning them behind hand-carved wooden masks under the belief that he is saving their souls from damnation. Disturbed and sick of his tyranny, Zélie finds an opportunity after she heads out to a neighboring farm for food at her mother’s behest and finds a woman named Jane with a dark secret, a man plagued by his demons named Carmin, and later, Gabriel, an infected soldier who made his way into their barn and offers to kill Jacob for her. Before they can enact their plan, though, the father finds out and punishes her mercilessly for her betrayal, beginning a downward spiral into madness that begets countless tragedies.

Our exclusive image shows Jacob’s horrifying handiwork on a man in a river. He’s covered in scratches and wearing nothing but a cloth, and the mask clasped around his head, confirming that he’s infected. With its large, hollow eyes and haunting mouth combined with the rough exterior and metal bolts securing it, the headwear is downright haunting and feels more like a tool of torture than an act of mercy by a faithful man trying to help. His “purification” means walking the earth still riddled with disease, but now unable to see, eat, speak, or scream as he inevitably wastes away.

Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.

Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.

Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.

Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.

Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.

Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.

As the image shows, The Ones Who Grieve will be a bleak folk horror tale where the greatest monster is not the disease increasingly spreading through the land, but the self-proclaimed prophet wielding his religion as a tool for control. Thierry Frémont plays the terrifying role of Jacob after previously taking part in AMC’s adventurous 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea prequel series, Nautilus. Joining him are Zélie Rixhon, Isabelle Anciaux, and Jean-Baptiste Maunier, while French filmmaker Quarxx takes the reins behind the camera. This will be the writer-director’s third film and a return to Fantastic Fest, after bringing his also downbeat sci-fi flick All the Gods in the Sky to Austin back in 2018. He co-wrote the screenplay to his latest with Frederic Soulier.

The Ones Who Grieve makes its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest on Friday, September 18, at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, Texas. Check out our exclusive image above and stay tuned here at Collider for more early looks at the event’s entries leading up to its first day on September 17. More information on all the titles heading to the genre event can be found on the official Fantastic Fest film guide.