‘FlapJax’ Teaser Serves Up a Gross, Flavor-Packed Alien Nightmare Ahead of Fantastic Fest Premiere
There is something deeply wrong with the newest item on the menu.
The first teaser for Rocko Zevenbergen’s FlapJax has arrived ahead of its world premiere at Fantastic Fest, serving up a bizarre collision of fast-food culture, alien horror and body horror that looks equal parts disgusting and wildly entertaining.
Written by Zevenbergen and Estevan Muñoz, the film will make its world premiere Thursday, Sept. 17 at 11:30 p.m. at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin.
FlapJax follows an overzealous fast-food manager who unknowingly begins carrying out the plans of an alien race after introducing a deadly new menu item called FLAPJAX.
It is a wonderfully simple setup, but the teaser suggests Zevenbergen has little interest in keeping things simple once the food starts moving.
The footage offers a quick taste of the film’s increasingly strange world, blending workplace comedy, grotesque imagery and science-fiction horror into something that feels deliberately difficult to categorize. The filmmakers cite both Yasujirō Ozu and David Cronenberg as cinematic influences, an unlikely combination that begins to make considerably more sense after seeing what FlapJax has cooking.
There is a grounded human quality underneath the absurdity, but the teaser is not shy about the movie’s appetite for the grotesque. Food, flesh and whatever exists between the two appear destined to become increasingly difficult to separate as the mysterious menu item begins doing considerably more than satisfying hungry customers.
The result, at least from this first look, is one part gross and two parts all flavor.
Gabriel Cagan leads an ensemble that also includes Georgia Kate Haege, Madeline Barbush, Estevan Muñoz, Kaoru Koide, Takumi Mitobe and Daniel Berkey.
Zevenbergen previously directed I Need You Dead!, his 2020 feature that similarly combined horror, comedy and surreal imagery. With FlapJax, the filmmaker appears to be pushing further into a heightened genre playground where alien invasion, fast-food capitalism and body horror can all occupy the same kitchen.
Zevenbergen, Aerin Chaklai, George Jones, Jefferson Moneo, Patrick Hackett and Fabiola Caraza produced the film.
Fantastic Fest has long provided a home for movies willing to get strange, messy and difficult to neatly categorize, and FlapJax looks engineered for exactly that kind of late-night crowd. Its 11:30 p.m. premiere slot should only add to the experience.
Whether FLAPJAX turns out to be an alien weapon, an intergalactic delicacy or something considerably nastier remains to be seen. The teaser is smart enough not to give away the entire recipe.
FlapJax makes its world premiere Thursday, Sept. 17 at 11:30 p.m. at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar during Fantastic Fest 2026.
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