Corpus [Fantasia International Film Festival Review]

by Mike McGranaghan

Corpus is a movie that causes your eyes to open fully wide more than once. It starts off with a seedy realism, then gradually works its way toward the truly strange and bizarre. Director Corrin Evans was previously an intimacy coordinator on films like MaXXXine and Magazine Dreams. With this feature debut, which had its world premiere at the 2026 Fantasia International Film Festival, she mixes sexuality and horror in a manner guaranteed to leave you unsettled.

Early scenes introduce us to Sayo (Jeff Wahlberg), a low-level drug dealer in NYC during the late 1990s. He takes photographs of the city’s nightlife while trolling around clubs. There’s an immersive quality to this first half-hour, as Evans takes care to recreate the vibe of the Big Apple’s underworld. Out of the blue, Sayo gets an invitation from his old friend Vince Marlowe (Brodie Townsend), an actor who has recently broken through to stardom. The invite is for a party at a mansion upstate that promises to be a hedonistic delight. They arrive to find things are actually quite quiet. There are, however, three women present – Billie (Lily Cowles), Wren (Nuha Jes Izman), and Cata (Ching Valdes-Aran).

I’m going to tread lightly in describing what happens from here, except to say that Billie appears to be the leader of the women and that sexual shenanigans are on the menu for the weekend. As erotic madness takes place around him, Sayo must come to terms with his longtime attraction to the aloof Vince. Then full-fledged terror breaks out toward the end. Like I said, treading lightly.

Corpus is a very transgressive picture that evokes the supernatural as it explores sexual boundaries. More than once, sex and violence are woven together in a shocking manner. Brace yourself whenever someone puts on a weird beak-like mask. Just as Sayo and Vince get seduced by the women’s scheme, so does the movie seduce the viewer. We get drawn into Sayo’s emotional arc as he grapples with his feelings for Vince, then find ourselves unable to look away from the ghastly things taking place inside that mansion. Wahlberg’s strong performance provides a trace of realism among increasingly disturbing events. A romantic connection between Billie and Cata mirrors the Sayo/Vince dynamic.

Evans brings a vibrant visual style to the movie. A dark ambiance hangs over everything, keeping you on edge throughout because it feels dangerous. Stylized slow-motion shots are used whenever Sayo takes a photo, and the effect is almost as if we’re being pulled into the image. It’s a cliché to say a film gets under your skin. In this case, it’s true, because the sense of anxiety generated by the story grows steadily the longer it goes on.

I look forward to seeing where Corrin Evans goes in her career. Corpus is bold and provocative sex-horror that thoughtfully explores LGBT themes while unnerving the hell out of you.

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