Compliance – Movie Review | Fantastic Fest (3/5)

COMPLIANCE (2026) is a horror movie getting its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest 2026. It’s scary and all-too-realistic, but has nothing to do with Craig Zobel‘s 2012 movie of the same name. This one is all about the horrors of surveillance and is told via various device screens. Read our full 2026 Compliance movie review here!

COMPLIANCE (2026) is the kind of horror movie that hits a little too close to home. Right now, we’re hearing how AI may be the end of humanity, but this horror movie reminds us that we’re doing a fine job of that ourselves. These days, it’s often via social media and the time we spend on our screens. Especially the information we share and just how easily we can be hacked.

Also, just how much we’re being watched. Often when not aware of it. The entire movie is told via computer screens, wearables, and hidden cameras. So, in essence, it’s a found-footage horror movie.

This movie has a runtime of 1 hour and 44 minutes, which isn’t too long for the story told, but there are some effects of various recordings overlapping that got on my nerves during those final 10 minutes. I accept that there is a point to them, but if I had watched this in a theater and not via a screener, I think I would’ve just about lost my mind.

Of course, this is part of the point, so kudos to the filmmaker, but also, please don’t do that again.

Continue reading our 2026 Compliance movie review below.

Money over morality?

Compliance is the story of a recent hire, Sam, at the tech startup UVisit. It’s a homestay hotel platform like Airbnb, and they are just about to land some new, big investors. As a result, they need to avoid all bad press, which is why this new hire is a key person. She’s their new PR specialist, which in actual practical terms means she needs to offer money to get people to sign an NDA.

For the story that kicks off events in this horror movie, the person she needs to talk to is a woman who was sexually assaulted while staying at a UVisit.

As much as Sam wants to be good at her job, she is not crazy about asking this woman to accept a million dollars to keep her mouth shut. She goes about it in a very loving way, which clearly has a lot to do with the fact that she used to be a social worker. Unfortunately, the result isn’t great, as the woman is not ready to play ball once the topic of the NDA does come up.

When Sam’s boss wants to send a co-worker, Paul, on the case instead of giving the victim just a little more time than a few hours after the assault, Sam loses it. She speaks to her boss in a way that ends exactly as one would expect: He fires her.

Get lost or get even

As a result, Sam is now completely lost. She left behind everything when she took this job and moved out to Los Angeles. Not only did she uproot her life, but she also stopped drinking. Well, she did, but as a result of these recent events, she started drinking again. Heavily! Not because she wanted the job.

Not really; she hated it.

However, it did pay extremely well, and she can’t afford her new place without the job.

Well, in this new expensive L.A. home, we know from the very beginning that there are cameras everywhere. And we know someone is watching. But who is watching and what do they want? Sam is about to find out and has to decide whether she wants to just disappear or make a difference.

As Sam, we get to experience Megan Wilcox, who managed to impress me very much. Sure, Sam is naive and an alcoholic, but the inner turmoil and the decisions she’s forced to make feel real and deep. We experience a woman in the darkest time of her life, and Megan Wilcox expresses this with finesse and intensity.

In another key role as the assault victim, Sarah, we have Lindsey Normington (Anora, Margo’s Got Money Troubles), who is bound to make quite the impression as well.

In a good way, mind you.

Compliance gets North American premiere at 2026 Fantastic Fest

Compliance comes from writer-director Kyle Mangione-Smith, who also edits his own movie. That editing part can sometimes be a real downfall for any filmmaker, and the whole “kill your darlings” issue. Fortunately, I didn’t feel this was a big issue with Compliance. Sure, I had an issue with some of the scrappy audio and visual elements of cutting different feeds into and on top of one another. It didn’t ruin anything for me, but it didn’t improve it either.

The story told in this movie, however, was fierce and brutal in a way I never saw coming. It’s all about disruption, power, conspiracy, and how you can make people do exactly what you want. Often while making them think it was all their own plan in the first place. It’s terrifying and clearly a huge problem in the world today. Right now, if enough people say something, it’s accepted as the truth. Even when it clearly isn’t.

And again, this 2026 release has nothing to do with the 2012 movie by Craig Zobel (The Hunt, Mare of Easttown). The 2012 movie was based on a true story and true-crime case, while this 2026 is “just” based on the real horrors of the world today. Both hit damn hard and are scary, so do check out both movies when you get the chance.

COMPLIANCE will get its North American Premiere at Fantastic Fest 2026.

Details

Director: Kyle Mangione-Smith
Writer: Kyle Mangione-Smith
Cast: Megan Wilcox, Lindsey Normington, Charlie Wood